Novi's Story
by j.bingum
Summary: Novi wasn't some ordinary witch, and her life was destined to be affiliated with that of Harry Potter. As daughter of Sirius Black, growing up in the care of Remus Lupin, she tries to balance the craziness of what her life brings. Oliver/OC story
1. Chapter 1: When Moony met Novi

Chapter 1: When Moony met Novi

November 1981

Even with the sharp sting of cold late-November air, the atmosphere in the Wizarding world was that of a cheery one.

From the windows of The Leakey Cauldron, one was able to view the Diagon Alley bustling with various witches and wizards, purebloods and Muggle-borns alike. The once closed shops reopened with much hope and glee across their respective owners' faces as long overdue customers flooded in. The excited chatter and cries of relief as friends reunited was heart-warming. Even the sun seemed to glow a lot brighter with its newfound light as the infamous inn-keeper, Tom's jovial laughter carried across the busy bar as many shared silly chitchats.

However, even with all the optimism around, there was one particular wizard sat glumly in the safe sanctuary of the four walls of the rented room.

Remus John Lupin was summoned from his comatose state at home when an urgent letter practically demanded his presence at this room. He had reluctantly removed himself from his inner turmoil before he had made a half-attempt to make himself presentable before coming here.

Just then, a knock sounded from the rickety door, breaking Remus's trance. He looked up from the floor but didn't attempt to get up from the lumpy bed as the door opened and the familiar old wizard walked in.

"Good afternoon, Remus," the older wizard addressed him, his usual twinkling blue eyes behind the half-moon spectacles dull. He took a once glance over at the younger wizard's shabby appearance, but seemed to disregard it.

"Professor Dumbledore," Remus greeted, nodding his head in an acknowledgement. "What was the urgent matter you spoke of?" he asked hastily, immediately wanting to go back to his state of confusion and remorse that had overwhelmed him after the loss of his dearest friends.

Albus Dumbledore's eyes twinkled for a second with amusement at the young wizard's impatience. However the life in his eyes were short lived as it grew dark again and he sat himself across from the wizard in the old chair that groaned in protest. "We found Miss Mary Pettigrew."

Remus's breath hitched at the name and eyes widened with shock. The elder, and considerably more attractive, sister of Peter Pettigrew has been missing for years. "Is- is she alive?" Remus managed to stutter out in curiosity, only to answer his own question by observing the grim look that Dumbledore had.

"I am sorry to say Miss Pettigrew was found dead in her hidings near Barcelona, Spain." Dumbledore calmly explained to Remus who looked as if he wanted to burst out into tears. "When a Ministry official came across the scene, they pronounced her dead for a week."

"Why must you tell me this, sir?" Remus asked stiffly. The news that more of his dear friends were found dead was not the type of information he wanted to take in at the moment.

"Because, it seems that she has failed to mention to anyone she was now a mother," Dumbledore said, further shocking the young wizard.

Remus's jaws seem to unlock as he stared at the professor's face speechless. He had no idea that Mary had even been pregnant! She was such a shy and conservative witch, and when she had simply vanished, seemingly without a trace, he thought she had fled, now he thought otherwise.

"And the child, is he dead as well?"

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, as if not knowing how to explain himself. He drew a quick sigh before clearing his throat and looked to Remus's awaiting face. "When the Ministry arrived at Mary Pettigrew's house, she was surrounded by several Death Eaters, dead from the fight that Miss Pettigrew has put up. The bodies of the Death Eaters were – ah – not fresh, and that's how they assumed the duel was about a week ago. But that's the strangest thing, Remus, the Death Eaters' bodies were disintegrating, whereas Miss Pettigrew looked as if she was recently deceased. Upon further investigation of the house, they found a small girl, hiding, but not terrified." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a little at the mention of the small girl, as if the thought and idea of her was a curious mystery. "We have reasons to believe that Miss Pettigrew's daughter displayed an extraordinary magic at this young age to preserve her mother's body. It was an incredible amount of power that children her age could only fathom."

A loud silence was what filled the room after. Both wizards sat, evidently both deep within their thoughts. Remus's head was filled with the idea of Mary Pettigrew's death and her daughter. Her _daughter_. This powerful witch with incredible power, whose love for her mother preserved the state of her flesh. It was both fascinating and terrifying, though he knew he shouldn't have expected any less of the brilliant Ravenclaw's daughter. Meanwhile, Dumbledore sat, thinking about how he should break the following news to the already distressed wizard sat in front of him.

"Remus," he called to his fellow Order member, who snapped his head towards him as if he just remembered that Dumbledore was still sitting there. "I would like you to take responsibility of the child."

"WHAT?" the younger wizard bellowed at the sudden information. How could Dumbledore suggest such a thing to him when he knew of Remus's conditions? He had to have lost his marbles to suggest such an atrocious thing, Remus decided. "Why not give her to Mrs. Pettigrew, assuming the child's father is dead as well?"

"We did, indeed, bring into Mrs. Pettigrew's attention of her new grandchild. However, she refused to the offer of custody when she found that the father of the child is currently in Azkaban after the betrayal of his best friend and the murder of another," Dumbledore spoke, unusually calm about the ordeal.

Remus, however, was frozen in shock and speechless once more. He did not have to rake his brains to guess who Dumbledore was speaking of. "Sirius? But he never told me, or anyone…"

"I do not believe Sirius Black, himself, was aware that he was now a father, he would only have been sixteen around the time she was born," Dumbledore calmly stated.

Remus silently agreed. Foolish and childish he may have been, but Sirius would have never run away from the responsibility of a child since he himself had a rough childhood. He loved children, the look on Sirius's face said it all when he held Harry in his arms. He didn't know for sure if the knowledge of having a child would have made a difference in Sirius' decision in his betrayal but he did not dwell on it. "But why me? Why not give her to someone else?"

"Ah, Remus. I thought it would be in the little girl's best interest if she stayed with you. You can provide her with stories of her father and mother, her uncle, even James and Lily and their son Harry. She may be putting on a brave face, but she needs comfort and familiarity, she needs you. Unless, of course, Mrs. Walburga Black would decide to take her." Dumbledore reasoned.

Remus sighed. He really wanted to, but knowing that his lycanthropy can be very dangerous, he didn't want to expose that to a poor child who's already had to grow up so much so fast. However, he knew that no other family would want to take the child knowing her heritage, he could not condemn her to a life in an orphanage or even worse, condemn her to that horrible hag of a woman that was Sirius's mother. That's when he decided. He knew, despite his newfound loathing for Sirius, he owed him this one favour of taking care of his child. "May… may I see her?" he asked, bringing a soft smile into Dumbledore's face.

"Ah, yes. She's downstairs, probably drinking her third glass of pumpkin juice which she undoubtedly charmed her way into getting for free from Tom," Dumbledore answered as he got up from the chair and made for the door, the younger wizard close behind him.

At the bottom of the staircase, it wasn't hard for Albus Dumbledore and Remus Lupin to spot the only small girl that sat on the high stools of the bar. Her side was to them, facing slightly away from the two Order members. And from what Remus could tell, she was talking animatedly with Tom, her arms thrown up in air, excited.

She must have felt the two staring at her from her peripheral vision when she stopped talking and turned. She gave a silly grin that could melt any adult's face as she threw her arms up. Dumbledore walked towards her wrapping the girl into an embrace and holding her while she squealed "Mr. Dumbles, where have you been," to him, and he put him down.

She then acknowledged the younger wizard as she looked up towards him. Her big grey eyes squinting up at his towering featured as she studied him. She broke out into a smile as she jumped up a little before hugging his legs. "You're Remus, right?" she asked with a little bit of Spanish accent, surprising him.

Remus crouched down to her eyelevel, his own eyes filled with instant love for the child. "Yes, yes I am, how did you know?" he asked, his grey eyes twinkling more as he studied the girl who looked exactly like her beautiful mother save for Sirius' mischievous grey eyes.

"Mommy had a photo of you with da, Uncle Peter and James. You were a lot younger in the photo though," she said, making Dumbledore and Remus laugh a little.

"Well, seems like you know my name then, but I don't know yours," Remus stated.

"I'm Novela, it means star, just like da's name. But call me Novi, mommy always called Novela when I was in trouble. I'm five," she decided to add.

"Well then, Novi," he said. "Since da can't be with you right now, how would you like to stay with me?"

"Really?"

"Yes, really, unless of course, you rather not?" he joked which she answered with her giggles.

"I would love to!"


	2. Chapter 2: Experimental Wand

Chapter 2: Experimental Wand

August 1987

"Remus, Remus!" an excited voice of a child, which belonged to that of Novela Mary Black, called to her guardian with haste. This was soon followed by the booming noise as the little girl in question practically broke down Remus' bedroom door and jumped on his bed.

At this, Remus groaned in retaliation. He was tired, having a very late night yesterday with his new job. He peeked one of his eyes open and looked to the small child that gave him a goofy grin, and then to the bedside table where a small alarm clock lay. "Novi… it's seven thirty in the morning. Go back to sleep," he tried, feeling his heavy eyelids droop down. He wanted at least another two more hours of sleep before he had to drag himself out of bed. However, the idea of that was thrown out when Remus received a hard shove and he fell off of his bed, face first, to the cold ground that waited below.

"Come on, Rem, you promised you'd take me to Diagon Alley today to get my stuff for MY FIRST YEAR IN HOGWARTS THAT'S STARTING NEXT WEEK!" Novi boomed, starting the sentence with a regular voice before almost screeching the last part like a banshee with excitement.

Remus sighed, defeated by all the pent up energy the little girl was emanating with glee. He knew she wouldn't let him sleep more even if he tried. "Go take a shower, I'll make us something to eat," Remus said, to which Novi obeyed immediately as she squealed and stomped out to the bathroom.

Remus chuckled as he watched the retreating figure of the small girl. He soon removed himself from the comfort and warmth of the bed and left to the kitchen in his very boring plaid bathrobe. He sat off his task to making some eggs, ham and beans, also boiling water while listening to Novi taking a shower, probably trying to make herself decent at a record time. And with that thought, Remus couldn't stop himself from smiling a very fatherly smile.

It seemed only yesterday to Remus that Novi came crashing to his world. On that fateful day in Leakey Cauldron, 'Mr. Dumbles' had gifted him with the responsibility of a small girl who carried the essence of his once best friends. It was hard for Remus to comprehend, how that little girl grew up to be eleven, setting off to Hogwarts so soon – next week, he reminded himself.

Novi had been a constant reminder of the grief that Sirius had caused, but she also had been a bundle of delight and joy to Remus and various shop owners of Diagon Alley, who always insisted on babysitting Novi when Remus was busy hopping from one Muggle job to another. Her personality greatly reflected that of Sirius when he had been younger, she was brave, kind-hearted, outgoing, clever, but also temperamental and mischievous. Her signature Black family's gray eyes possessed the same glint that Sirius carried when he was about to cause a disaster on the poor boy, Snape, when they had all been an arrogant, adolescent gits. And despite the reminder of the sad past she brought, Novi's presence filled the gap left in Remus' heart after deaths and imprisonment of his once best friends.

Just then, Novi strolled into the kitchen, wrapped cosily in her white fluffy bathrobe. Remus gave a little chuckle at the still excited face of his adopted daughter and motioned for her to sit. Novi was bouncing up and down in her seat as he put down the two plates and poured both of them a cup of strong tea and settled down onto the small, round, wooden table and began to eat.

"So what are you most excited for? When we get to Diagon Alley," Remus asked, taking a long sip of the tea. It was an attempt to calm Novi down from wolfing her food down her throat any faster.

"Well, my wand, of course!" she stated excitedly. Wandlore has always been a fascinating subject for Novi. She often could be found fiddling around with the details of Remus' wand, sometimes causing small explosions accidentally. She read upon the history of wandlore, even, despite the complexity of the material, and would constantly run up to chat with Mr. Ollivander during their outings in Diagon Alley.

"Well, I should've known," Remus laughed before he started to reminisce about his friends. "I remember the first time I met your father on the train. Caused quite the extravagant show with his wand, he did. Managed to almost kill us all with an explosion, but then again, knowing him he may have intended that to happen. Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you is that we're going to save the wand for the last, so you may not be tempted to follow your father's example."

Novi laughed at this. She knew of her father, a member of the Order of the Phoenix turned mass murderer, which ended him up in Azkaban. However, the stories Remus told of him were always light and happy, which only made Novi more curious as to what her father had been like. "Well, alright then. I will save you the embarrassment until we get home, I suppose," Novi grinned, pushing the thought of her father aside. She knew that she wouldn't be able to use magic until she boarded the train at least, but it was fun to torment Remus by planting the notion that she may do something incredibly stupid.

Finally, after the meal and relaxation, the two dressed hurriedly. Novi fastened her traveling cloak with the broach that had once belonged to Mrs. Black and she hurried over to Remus' room. He looked at the broach pointedly with distaste but did not say anything as Novi's beaming face looked up at him with no less anticipation and giddy as she had when she woke up.

"We're going to do the side-along apparition to The Leakey Cauldron," Remus said as he held out his arm for her to take.

"Please, Rem, we've done this a thousand times. Spare me the boring details," she laughed, smirking a true Black style smirk which often made Remus's blood run cold. Novi was unintentionally reminding Remus constantly of Sirius today. But as gentle hand touched his elbow, he knew she was no harm, nothing like the traitor, Sirius.

And with a bit of a lighter heart, he apparated the two of them straight into Tom's inn where the two had met many years ago, letting the melancholy settle in both of them, just like every time they apparated here. Tom greeted the two with a friendly wave and a booming hello as they made their way to the back door and to the entrance of the Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was no different from any other times she had visited but the excitement rushed through her veins as she followed Remus close behind, dodging pedestrians and strange animals alike. Greetings and smiles were sent her way as fellow witches and wizards gave a knowing look to Novi as they made their way to Madam Malkin's.

Madam welcomed Novi with enthusiasm, having babysat Novi on multiple occasions. She set off to find 'the perfect traveling cloak' she had saved for Novi when Remus kindly informed her that Novi was here to get her first school robe for Hogwarts. Madam nearly burst into tears when she heard this, not being able to comprehend 'our baby' was finally old enough to attend a magical school, but she set off soon, getting all of the required uniform fitted for her, before she added on the traveling cloak for free.

The same happened when they entered the Flourish and Blotts and the Apothecary. The owners, so used to seeing Novi lurking around Diagon Alley could hardly believe she was off to Hogwarts already and encased her in bone crushing hugs. All the while leaving Remus to purchase her required books and equipment by himself, grumbling as he cast a shrinking charm and shoved them all into his pockets which weighed his cloak funnily.

Finally, they stood in front of Ollivanders. Though Novi had been inside the shop many times before, she stood to admire all of its dusty and old glory. Her eyes glistened with happiness at the thought of purchasing her first, and hopefully last, wand. So with an encouraging smile from Remus, Novi entered the shop, the ever pleasant tinkling of the bell sounding as the familiar sights of wands stacked up high to the ceiling filled both their eyes.

The old, barmy wizard came from behind the shop. His wide, pale eyes smiled as he saw who it was. "Ah, yes. I was wondering when would be the next time you would come to give this old cracker a visit. Hello, Remus," Ollivander acknowledged. Ollivander always showed Novi a different side to him, the more kind and less crazy side, Novi supposed.

"Actually, Mr. Ollivander, Novi is here to get her first wand," Remus said proudly, giving Novi a side-hug.

"Crikey, you're eleven already!" Ollivander bellowed. "Well then, let's get to work shall we?" he suggested as he swished his own wand. The measuring tape, parchment and quill getting to work on its own as it measured her. Remus sat down on a spindly chair in the corner.

"I remember when your mother came to get her first wand. Your uncle was very jealous that his sister was going to Hogwarts first. Twelve and half inches, unyielding, made of hawthorn and unicorn hair. Tricky wand, that one, very temperamental," Mr. Ollivander said as he began to read the measurements. "Whereas your father's wand, fifteen inches, pliable, made of dark grey oak, was a much more stable wand. Very good for powerful wizards such as him, beautiful design too. Now, let's try this one, mahogany and dragon heartstring, twelve inches, supple."

Novi gave it a wave, only seeming to clear out the stuffiness that was inside the usual store. Novi, unknowingly, was thinking of the cleaning spell as she did so, and had managed to clean the air in the store.

"Well, as impressive as that was, this is a 'no'," Ollivander said as he snatched the wand away from her and replaced it with another. "Cherry and unicorn hair, eleven and half inches, springy."

Novi raced her hand once more, bringing it down. It seemed to glow for a second before it died pathetically.

"No, definitely not, that was worse than last time! Here – yew and dragon heartstring, twelve and three quarter inches, inflexible."

Novi tried. And tried. With spending so much time here, and fantasizing about her first wand, she thought this would be an easy task – it certainly looked it when she saw other customers getting their wands in the past. Her pile grew and Novi managed to clean the air, make sad little sparks and, and the greatest success yet, put Remus to sleep from the sheer boredom of it all.

"Not to worry Novi, you've got an incredible amount of magic in you, we'll find you a match somewhere in this store," Ollivander laughed, seemingly growing happier as the pile grew. However, he stopped abruptly, as he began to think harder. "Now, let's see – yes, why not give it a go – my newest experiment," he said as he went to the back and brought out a beautiful wand. "Never used these wood or core before, but for a brilliant and creative girl such as you… here, gingko and Abraxan feather, thirteen and a quarter inches, stiff."

A warm feeling embraced all of Novi as she took the wand into her hand. She smiled a little before the wand became an extension of her arm and she gave it a wave. Loud exploding sound came from her wand, scaring Remus out of his chair and on to the floor, and a thousand glittering white and gold sparks erupted from the tip of the wand. Both the older wizards gave a little cheer as a sheepish grin appeared in Novi's face.

"Brilliant, simply, utterly brilliant," Ollivander cried, seemingly ecstatic.

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander," Novi beamed happily, admiring the intricate detail on the handle of the wand.

"It seems quite fitting, really, that you, Novi, should get an experimental wand. I see a bright future in you, should you study wandlore when you grow up, being the creative soul you are," Ollivanders said. And with a blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving the pair to admire the new experimental wand.

* * *

(A/N) Hello everyone, sorry if this chapter was a bit of a bore compared to the first one, it is kind of a filler, but I thought it necessary to give a little background information on Novi.

Also, if people could either Review or leave me a message on how the story is and where I can improve, that'd be fantastic. I have never written a fanfiction before so I'm super paranoid about what I'm doing. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3: Beginning of it All

Chapter 3: Hogwarts Express and the Beginning of it All

September 1, 1987

On first of September, Novi woke up to the sound of Remus bustling around the kitchen early in the morning. She peaked at the bedside table to where her alarm clock was to see that it was only seven in the morning and grumbled, rolling off the bed.

Ever since Novi got all her books and prepared for Hogwarts, reading every single book she had bought in a breeze and even giving potions a go, Remus had been acting like an anxious puppy needing the potty. A realization soon dawned on Novi that Remus was acting like a nervous parent, not knowing how to deal with a child separating away from them. It was rather sweet really, but his anxiousness leading up to this day didn't help her nerves any!

"Rem, what the bloody hell are you doing so early? You're barking mad, you know?" Novi grumbled as she showed up, wrapped up in her fluffy white bathrobe.

"I can't help but be nervous, you're going away, to Hogwarts!" Remus said loudly, which was unlike himself, as he put down a plate huge food in front of her, spinach and feta cheese omelette, taters, fresh fluffy bread with a side of olive oil for it, as well as a separate fruit bowl, he had really outdone himself.

"Calm yourself Moony, I'll be okay," Novi answered, tasting the food and groaning in happiness.

"I know you will be _okay_, Novi. I'm just nervous as to how long it will take for your head of house to write me a letter about Novela Mary Black getting expelled!" he panicked, he was now pacing back and forth in the kitchen, actually wearing the pink frilly apron Novi had gotten as a joke. He must have really been going mad with all the concerns. "If you're anything like or, God forbid, worse than James and Sirius –."

"I really think if they can handle James and da together, they can handle one of me," Novi said quickly, trying to calm his nerves. "And don't worry, the most I'll do this year is blow up a couple toilets, plant dungbombs into Slytherin kids' cauldrons, or terrorizing the nasty teachers," Novi added wickedly.

"No, no, no, no. No terrorizing, dungbombs or toilets, Novela Mary Black, I mean it!" Remus threw his hands up exasperatedly, making Novi raise her eyebrow up to her hairline.

"Just, relax your bloody nerves Moony! Sit down and help me finish the food. And take that ridiculous apron off, it's ghastly," Novi snapped.

Sighing, Remus took off the apron and sat himself across the familiar round kitchen table and helped her finish the massive plate of food. If he was still nervous and jittery, he didn't show it since he wasn't twitching off the walls anymore.

Few hours later, dressed clad in her favorite rose red casual dress with yellow buttons down the front and her mousy brown hair falling freely down on her shoulders, she wheeled her trunk to the living room, and sat studying her wand when Remus walked in.

"Right then, ready to go?" he said as he studied his watch, it read half to eleven. Then without awaiting her answer, he took her in his arms and apparated near the borders of King's Cross apparition range. They walked quickly, dodging the Muggles and passing through the barriers of Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

The scarlet steam engine was waiting eagerly for people to get on the train as busy goodbyes were made between parents and children. Remus manoeuvered his ways around people with ease with his height and got onto the train with Novi, finding an empty compartment and easily tucking away her trunk in the corner before getting off, Novi hot on his tail.

"Now, you be good," Remus said. "I mean it Novi, no funny business."

"Now I wouldn't be Novela Black if I wasn't up to no good, Rem. But I'll think about it," Novi smiled.

Remus had to give a smile at that too. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her on top of her head. "I'm proud of you Novi. Now go do what you do best and chat up some people, or wreak some havoc to the Slytherins."

"Bye Remus, I'll see you during the winter holidays!" Novi called as she jumped onto the train on the last possible second and went to her compartment.

Much to Novi's surprise, someone was seated opposite of where Novi's trunk lay. It was a boy, perhaps her age, looking down with a magazine open on his lap. "Hello," Novi called as she sat across from him. He looked up, surprised, then grinned as he put the magazine down and extended his hand out to her which she took and gave a firm shake.

"Oliver Wood. Hope you don't mind that I helped myself to the compartment, I saw that there was only one trunk," he said. "Mighty glad that trunk belongs to a first year like yourself and not some nasty Slytherin senior." She gave a small smile at this, she liked him instantly. Just then, the compartment door slid open to reveal a lanky boy with a brilliant red hair poked his head in.

"Hi, mind if I join you two?" he asked.

"Please, help yourself," Novi said kindly. The boy walked in, clearly looking prepared as he was already dressed in his robe. "I'm Novi," she introduced herself.

"Percy Weasley."

"Oliver Wood."

The next couple of hours, the three of them talked about nothing that was of importance. They ate themselves full with chocolate that Novi bought for the three of them and bonded instantly over opening of the chocolate frogs. It was when the topic of their House came up and they all became serious.

"So, do you guys know what House you want to be in?" Percy asked. "I know I want to be in Gryffindor, my two older brothers, my parents and uncles were all in Gryffindor. Although, I do not think Ravenclaw would be half bad."

"Both my parents were in Gryffindor as well, and that's definitely where I want to go," Oliver said proudly. "I also hear that they have the best Quidditch team in the school."

Novi opened her mouth to answer the question, when the compartment door slid open with a violent bang, making them all jump a little and look towards the door. There stood couple of nasty looking first years, just sneering.

"Can we help you?" Oliver asked politely.

"Well we're just looking around and getting to know our fellow first years," he said. "Name is Marcus, Marcus Flint. This is Terrence Higgs, Petunia Parkinson, Kevin Bletchley, Helia Crabbe, and Cygnus Goyle."

"Now, name and blood-status. Cough them up pretties," Petunia said, her voice sickeningly sweet. Then she gave a cold glance at Percy then rolled her eyes. "Except you, ginger, we know a filthy blood-traitor Weasley when we see one. Now you two, name and blood-status."

Oliver looked as if he was going to throw a punch any second as his fist tightened dangerously. But Novi nudged Oliver and just tilted her head and rolled her eyes as if to just forget about it and tell them. Oliver sighed before he looked back at them, "Oliver Wood, pureblood."

"Good, good. We know the Woods, not exactly up to our standards as pureblood goes, though. But nonetheless, I'm glad to see at least you aren't associating yourselves with dirty mudbloods at least," Flint said. "Now what about you, sweetheart? Name and blood-status."

Novi sighed, not wanting to say it. She bit her lips a little but when she opened her mouth her voice was icy and cold as theirs. "Novela Black, pureblood, obviously," she drawled, her eyes hard as she studied each of them.

"Black? I didn't know uncle Regulus had a daughter," Crabbe said.

"That's because he didn't. My mother is Mary Pettigrew, and my father, Sirius Black the Third. Now, please, leave," Novi said, her voice now almost threatening. However, the group only smiled brighter as if they had won a draw.

"Sweetheart, you don't have to do any charity by sitting with these filthy blood-traitors. Why don't you come join us in our compartment?" Bletchley said as he tried to grab her hand only to fly back crashing towards the hoard that stood at the door. Novi had her wands drawn high as she icily stared down at the group that was scurrying to get up.

"You hag! You will pay for that!" Flint said as he tried to lunge at her. But Novi was smaller and more nimble than he was. She dodged him with ease before sending a Knee-Reversal hex on him and he came crashing down, hitting his teeth onto the floor.

"Really? Because I'm not the one with my patella flipped around," Novi said. "Now, leave me and my friends alone."

They didn't need to be told twice as Higgs, the only one that seemed decent in the group suggested they leave. Novi sent a powerful cracker jinx that lit up the whole corridor as the nasty group of kids fled, Flint hilariously attempting to catch up with his knees reversed.

Novi turned around and sat herself from across where the boys sat now. They were both staring with eyes wide and jaws slack as if they had been confounded. "What?" Novi snapped, thinking that she had lost her friends by telling them her last name. She was pleasantly surprised when they burst out laughing, making Novi crack a smile. Soon, they were all holding their stomachs, laughing as tears rolled down their faces.

Soon, their laughter died down as they all slumped with goofy smiles on their faces. Novi looked at the two of them, grinning at her like idiots themselves. "So, you're not going to run away from me? Even if I am a Black?"

Oliver shrugged. "It's not like you grew up with Sirius Black, learning dark magic. Were you?"

"Nah, I was adopted by my guardian Remus when I was five." Novi replied truthfully. "Anyways, speaking of Rem, the sun has set. Remus said to change into robes when the sun is set and when the sky starts to turn purple. So you boys get out for a minute while I change."

After Novi had changed into her uniform and the plain black robe, she waited outside with Percy for Oliver to change, chatting up some other first years. Most people had either heard or witnessed the bright cracker jinx that Novi had set off towards the fleeing group of bullies. Novi particularly hit it off with Mona, who accidentally dropped some dungbombs near Percy, setting them off violently on the floor to cover now annoyed Percy.

When the train came to a smooth stop, people started to flood out to finally plant their feet onto the ground. Many stretched their body yawning as if they just woke as young witches and wizards all around bustled around, shivering slightly in the cold night air.

"Firs' years! Firs' years! Follow me!" the Hogwarts grounds keeper bellowed as he motioned for the newcomers to Hogwarts. They could be spotted easily really, the very short ones with nervous facial expressions, waddling around like a flock of lost penguins were the first years.

They were soon led towards the castle on a boat, crossing the Black Lake. Novi, Mona, Oliver gave a gasp as they saw the castle while Percy tried to hold back his excitement with a fake sense of calm. They entered the castle still gawking at the grandness of it all. However, when the pointed looking witch started to talk about the Houses and the sorting, Mona, Oliver and Novi quickly lost focus, and Mona tried to teach them how to play chopsticks, some sort of simple math game involving the two hands.

Soon, they were brought back to reality, however, when Percy tugged on Novi's robe and the group of first years headed towards the grand double door. With the pointed witch (who, Percy was kind enough to fill in the name for as McGonagall) leading the way, the group of first years were welcomed to the sight of the Great Hall. The ceiling shone with bright starlight to match the perfect weather of outside, as if there was no roof to begin with. To make everything more amazing to the first years, the dark starry sky was filled with thousands of candles floating midair along with the translucent ghosts who glided along happily, looking at the new students with curiosity. The long four tables of each house were adorned with golden plates and goblets, with the intent looks of the older students.

Soon, with the clearing of her throat, and the placing of the four legged stool in front of the staff table, Professor McGonagall demanded the attention of the first years. She placed a very dirty looking, overly large wizard's hat on top of it. The Hall was now staring at the dirty, patched hat, and the four friends stared too, unable to think of what would happen. Then the hat opened its mouth near the brim and began to sing.

_A long time ago when time was an idea, _

_there were four brilliant sorcerers sharing one dream_

_To teach young witches and wizards their knowledge,_

_so they left their essence in my seam_

_And though I may not be so new and pretty now,_

_don't let my ragged appearance tell you a lie_

_Because I can bet you anything in the world,_

_there's no other hat smarter than I_

_So put me on your curious heads,_

_let me tell you where you belong_

_Because I assure you in my years_

_I have never been proven wrong_

_You may belong in Gryffindor_

_where the bravest souls will unite_

_In this house you will be with those_

_who tickles your chivalry alight_

_Or perhaps you belong in Hufflepuff_

_where justice and loyalty is valued by all_

_In this house you will be amongst_

_those whose bearings are definite and tall_

_Maybe you belong in Ravenclaw_

_where those quick witted and intelligent gather_

_In this house you will dwell with those_

_whose mind are equally as sharp as dagger_

_Or yet you'll belong in Slytherin_

_where their ambitious and cunning nature are known_

_In this house you'll be in midst of those_

_who are your true friends, those who protect their own_

_So go ahead!_

_Don't be stroking your chin_

_Let __me__ tell you where you belong_

_And let the Sorting now begin_

With that, the Great Hall erupted in an applause and the Sorting Hat bowed to the four tables before it went completely still on the stool again. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," Professor McGonagall stated as she glanced quickly at the list. "Adams, Jennifer!"- a small girl with cropped black hair ran up and put on the hat eagerly before the hat screamed "Ravenclaw"

"Well if this is going to be alphabetical, looks like you're up first amongst us Novi," Oliver whispered. "It's going to be a while before they call Percy and I."

"Well I'll be very disappointed if I don't meet you in Gryffindor together, but no pressure," Mona joked.

"Gee thanks," Novi replied dryly. Not that Novi was really worried about which House she would be sorted to, but she worried about Remus, and her family. Would they be disappointed if she didn't get into a certain house?

"Black, Novela!" the Professor finally called out. Novi swallowed, feeling her throat dry instantly. She saw the Headmaster Dumbledore look at her with a soft smile and gave a weak one back before sitting down with the hat placed past her ears.

"A Black eh? I remember your father, as I also remember your mother. Very brilliant students, both of them, but where to put you?" the Sorting Hat wondered. "You do have many qualities of Slytherin also, however, just like your uncle. I knew I shouldn't have put him in Gryffindor, but what about you? Would I regret it if I put you anywhere but Slytherin?" _Please, anywhere but Slytherin. _Novi thought in her head. "Anywhere but Slytherin, you say? Alright, but do not make me regret my decision… GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheer erupted at the Gryffindor table as they welcomed their first Gryffindor sorted into their house. She gave a brilliant smile as she bounced off of the stool and ran towards the table, waiting for her friends to be Sorted.

Mona soon joined her, her last name being Farley. She was bouncing with joy that she had been sorted into Gryffindor. And as if fate smiled upon them, both Percy and Oliver joined them at the Gryffindor house.

And they knew, at this point, that this would be beginning of it all.


	4. Chapter 4: Of Prefects and Potter

Chapter 4: Of Prefects and Potter

August 1991

It was a particularly enjoyable, hot, first of August over little Suffolk. The rain clouds that threatened the sky just the night before was completely missing, only leaving the crisp air. The townspeople were all out, enjoying each other's company and making silly little chit-chats except for the two people that resided in 'the remote house over the hills'.

'The remote house over the hills' was a little name the people in town gave to the house that actually stood alone in the forested area about a kilometer away from the South border of the town. They knew that a very sickly man and his adopted daughter lived together in it, minding their own business, and associating little with others. It seemed, even on a lovely day such as today, they decided to not venture out of their little house.

Inside this said house, a teenage girl of fifteen lounged on the couch with a thick book. Novela Mary Black had grown up to be quite the lovely lady over the years. Her mousy brown hair, which was wet at the moment from the shower she had taken, had grown past her usual shoulder length, down to her lower midriff, in soft waves. Her face had lost its baby fat over the years and had become rather slender, accentuating her calculating, sharp, grey eyes.

At this precise moment, Novi was waiting. Waiting for the Hogwarts letter that just wouldn't come! By this time last year, Novi would have already had the book list for a few days, and would be out shopping this day. She had promised to meet Mona near Fortescue's as they always have since second year, but now, Novi was just paranoid.

Perhaps jinxing Snape's potions cabinet to scream colourful obscenities, so long as Snape's hair was greasy, was too much, maybe they've expelled me, Novi thought to herself. She let out a heavy sigh when a familiar screech she had listened to over the years sounded.

Novi turned her head towards the open kitchen window, just in time to witness a rather old owl smacking right onto the window. "Errol!" Novi exclaimed, watching as the poor owl weakly dragged itself inside the house. Novi crossed the room, dropping the advanced charms book she had stolen from Remus's room. She was not disappointed to see the familiar letter from Hogwarts.

"Here, you pathetic bird," Novi said, bringing a bowl full of water and laying it down onto the familiar small, rounded, wooden table before she carried the old bird to it. It gave a thanking hoot before it drank profusely, promptly before it passed out from exhaustion.

Novi shook her head at the familiar bird of one of her best friends. Percy's family has never been well off, but they really needed to get their bird replaced. If it hadn't been going bonkers for the past four years from old age, maybe her letter would have arrived sooner. However, not paying attention to the bird, she took the letter, opening it up, and scanning the letter. It took a second to realize that there were more than one page this year and she began reading the next page.

"Prefect?" Remus's voice said from behind Novi, making her jump in surprise. She looked over at her guardian who looked as confused as she was feeling. To make the matters worse, she watched as Remus's face contorted before he snorted and proceeded to let out a booming laugh. "Novela Mary Black! A Prefect! Sirius would have had a downright laugh if he knew about this," he managed to breathe out.

"Why would they ever choose me? I'm a nightmare!" Novi exclaimed.

"Well, seeing that you're not a very well-behaved student, they must have thought to put you as prefect, because of your academic abilities," he said as he sat across from her. He looked down at the bird that lounged on the table and cocked an eyebrow. "Killed a poor owl because of the news did you? Anyway, so I'm assuming you're off to Diagon Alley to meet Mona?"

Novi groaned at this, already dreading having to tell Mona about this. She would have a downright laugh in the middle of Diagon Alley. "I'm not so sure if I want to show my face to the world anymore," Novi sighed dramatically. "I had a reputation to keep up, you know. I'm the face of all pranks in school, or I was."

"Don't be so dramatic," Remus said. "You better be off, Mona will be waiting for you."

"Right," Novi replied, getting up and dusting off the imaginary dust on her gray shirt and putting on her blue traveling cloak. She made her way to the fireplace, giving Remus, who still had an amused smile on his face, a look she shouted her destination off to Diagon Alley.

It wasn't long before Novi spotted her three best friends. Mona's brilliant blonde hair could have been spotted from miles away, not to mention she was bloody tall for a girl, almost standing in equal height as Percy. Percy was easy to spot as well, his brilliant red hair that represented that of a bird's nest was quite a sight. It also helped that rest of Percy's family were standing around, talking to them, it was hard to miss a sea of red hair after all. Then, she saw Oliver.

Novi felt her face blush a little at the Scottish boy who stood next to Mona, smiling at something Mona had said whilst she swatted her hand at the Weasley twins. When Novi started to develop feelings for Oliver was a mystery even to her. One day, when Novi saw him riding his broom, she couldn't help but notice how much he had matured. He wasn't that timid lanky boy that suddenly appeared in her compartment anymore, but a confident, well-built stud who made all the girls swoon with just a glance.

Novi cleared her throat, clearing her head of the boy before she called out to her best friend, Mona.

"Novi!" Mona exclaimed as she ran towards the smaller girl, and put her in a choking embrace. "How have your summer been?"

"The same old," Novi said. "Percy's bloody bird must have lost its way before it came to my house though, I didn't get my letter until this morning! Hello Mister and Missus Weasley, have a good summer?"

"Fantastic, my dear. Sorry about old Errol, he's a bit nutters. Needs to take a lot of breathers between his travels," Mrs. Weasley said to Novi as she embraced her in a hug.

"Speaking of letters, however, you better behave yourself this year. Percy is on our arse, he's made prefect, you see," Oliver said as he put an arm around Novi. Novi blushed at this but didn't move away as Oliver kept his arm there.

"Oh, did somebody say that Percy was a prefect this year?" Fred said dramatically.

"Blimey, I would have never known if you didn't say so, Oliver. He definitely doesn't remind us every breathing moment that he's prefect or anything," George said as well.

"Please ignore my brothers, Novela," Percy said in an annoyed voice.

"Ignore us? Novi is the one that gives us pointers on our experiments. She's our mentor!" Fred said.

"Well if Percy is a downright prick this year, she won't be," Mona said. "I'm sorry Novi, but I ain't going to let you get points taken away from Percy."

"Uh… well you see, he won't be able to anyway," Novi said quietly. She looked at the confused faces, and licked her lips. "You see, believe it or not, I'm prefect, too."

"WHAT?" the twins exclaimed.

"Oh that's wonderful, Novi!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as she clapped her hand excitedly.

"You? A _prefect_?" Mona asked, looking at her best friend dumbly. It didn't take a while before everyone started a booming laughter, making Novi blush a deep shade of scarlet.

"Well that's it then. Mona's the only that's officially cool now," George said as he linked arms with Mona.

"Why was Oliver dumped out of the category?" Novi asked, confused. She looked up at the boy whose arm was still draped around hers and he stared right back, his grin infectious.

"Well, my dearest. You're looking at the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain," Oliver said excitedly. "Ever since I got the letter, I've been planning strategies-,"

"Spare us the details, Oliver. Come on, let's get our stuff."

* * *

September 1, 1991 Hogwarts Express

It felt like only a few blinks of the eyes had passed when the long awaited first of September rolled in. The familiar pattern of many parents saying goodbye to their children could be seen in the Platform Nine and Three Quarters, filling the place with bitter-happiness.

"Novela, are you ready to go?" Percy asked Novi as she hugged Remus goodbye.

Novi nodded, knowing that Percy probably didn't want to go on the train alone. Novi knew that Percy didn't want to look like a git by himself, coming into the Prefects compartment in front of Penelope Clearwater. "Goodbye Remus, I'll see you during the holidays."

And with a final whistle of the scarlet steam engine, the Hogwarts Express was off once again. "Shall we?" Percy asked as he offered Novi his arm. Novi giggled at this. Percy may have been the most uptight, law-abiding student of Hogwarts, but when you got to know him, he really wasn't a boring character. Novi knew that if she wasn't so infatuated with Oliver Wood, she may even develop feelings for Percy. She knew that Mrs. Weasley definitely hoped that would be a possibility.

Linking arms with her best friend, the two moved toward the front of the train. They had promised Oliver and Mona that they'd come find them after, but first they had to go to the Prefects meeting.

"Well, well. I should've known that you know-it-all blood traitor weasel would be selected Prefect," a snarky screech of a voice said as they walked into the fifth year's compartment.

"Yes, that was a given, if you had half a brain to think with, Helia. He is only the brightest wizard in our grade, but what about you? Slytherin must seriously be lacking decent students if a part Troll like you is selected prefect," Novi snipped, glaring at the girl. Helia Crabbe bounced out of her seat at this, pulling out her abnormally short wand and pointing at Novi.

"Ms. Crabbe, I would appreciate it if you would sit down," the Head Girl said as she walked into the Fifth year prefect compartment.

To say that she was glad that the meeting was over earlier than they'd thought was an understatement for someone like Novi, who liked to walk around and wreak havoc. When they were finally released from their Prefect compartment, the two new Gryffindor prefects made their way down the rather narrow corridor of Hogwarts Express, joining their other two best friends in the middle of the train.

The four talked of the school year to come, what with the OWLs this year. However, soon enough Percy was demanding that Novi immediately changed into her uniform and do their share of the patrol. Novi rolled her eyes at this but agreed as she changed into her uniform in the lavatory, her shining new Prefects badge adoring her robe.

Percy decided to take the front half of the train, leaving Novi to take the back half, which most usually always had more first years. Novi rolled her eyes at this but moved down the corridor, making little conversations with students who greeted her. It wasn't long before Novi was reaching the end of the train, but she sensed trouble when she approached the last compartment.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," the boy who stood in front of the compartment said venomously. Novi froze instantly, Remus didn't mention that Harry Potter would be coming to Hogwarts this year. She didn't know him, but felt responsibility towards him because of her father's actions, so the next words that came out of the little blond faggot's mouth raged her. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you."

"Is that so?" Novi's cold echoed from directly behind the rude boy. The boys turned around, and the two kids in the compartment's eyes shot up toward her, relief coming down their face. The boy with the blond hair looked terrified while Novi studied the big fat goons surrounding him. "I know a Troll face when I see one. Helia and Cygnus's little siblings, are you? And what's your name, blondie?"

"Draco Malfoy, what's it to you?" the boy barked almost defiantly.

"Well, well, Mister Malfoy. You don't want to talk to your older cousin like that, do you?" Novi stated venomously. "I suggest you remove yourself from this environment before I am forced to take measures and bring into a Professor's attention on what I've just heard. Oh, and take these lards with you, will you?"

Malfoy looked as if he wanted to say something to the older student at this but decided against this as he started to walk away, the two goons hot on his heels. Novi rolled her eyes at this and turned towards the two boys sat in the compartment.

"Honestly Ron, can't stay out of trouble already? Did I rub off on you so soon?" Novi laughed as she leaned against the door of the compartment. The black haired boy she recognized as Harry Potter looked surprised at this, looking between his new friend and Novi.

"Well, I guess I learned from the best," Ron smiled, making Novi smile more. "Oh, Harry, this is Novi."

"Hello Harry. Novela Black, but call me Novi," she said.

"Novi is Percy's best friend. She's also a fifth year Prefect this year for the Gryffindor house, wicked isn't it?" Ron said, making Novi blush.

"Look, avoid Malfoy if you can, his family is bad news. Anyway, I'm sure I'll see you both at the Gryffindor house tonight? Oh, and put on your robes, we're nearly there," Novi said. She gave one stern look towards Harry, holding the gaze for a little more than necessary before she pulled herself away.

* * *

(A/N) Hey everyone, I hope you're enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing it.

I know I am skipping through time a lot, completely disregarding Novi's first four years of school before Harry came along, but I'll try and put flashbacks and whatnot. The way I'm thinking the story is going to be, Novi's life really didn't get very interesting until her fifth year anyway.

Make sure you let me know what you think by private messages or reviews. And don't forget to favorite or follow the story! And if you haven't already, I'm also writing another story called 'Through Ella's Eyes' which is a Draco/OC story, so check that out. Thank You!

xx Bingum


	5. Herding the Firsties

Herding the Firsties

* * *

(A/N) Hello Everyone. I know I said I wasn't going to post for a while but I already had a short chapter written down before so I decided to post it:). It's a bit of a filler but I hope you'll bear with me.

Anyway, before moving on. If anyone has a **Pottermore **account, feel free to add me at **GalleonHazel24184**

* * *

The long, tiring journey of the Hogwarts Express rolled to a non-too-gentle stop in the familiar town of Hogsmeade after sunset. The scarlet steam engine sputtered an exhausted smoke and fell quiet as the dead. Then, as if coordinated, the prefects, including Novi, got off the train, opening the door for the first year students to flood out.

The familiar sight that graced the town on the first of September painted before one's eyes. Chatters filled the air as the excited first years were lead off for the magical boat ride across the Black Lake. The returning students, still catching up from the long summer break, broke into their individual groups and took the familiar hike where the Thestrals would pull their carriage up to the castle.

Novi and Percy did a quick check of the now still steam engine, looking for any stray students before they themselves took the familiar hike, and rode the last carriage that awaited them toward Hogwarts. The pair was still able to make it before the Sorting Ceremony started, and the two made their way, seating themselves across from Oliver and Mona, closest to where the new first years would be seated.

"So, guess who I saw Ron sitting with on the train," Novi whispered to her best friends. "Harry Potter."

"No way!" Mona gasped. "How do you know? Did you see his scar?"

"Be quiet!" Percy hissed before any of them could utter another word. He was looking towards the grand double doors of the Great Hall. The doors opened magically, and before them walked in Professor McGonagall with the group of First Year students trailing behind her. The new students looked up at the ceiling in amazement as they neared the front, gasping at the brilliant enchantment that made it appear as the sky outside.

"The look on Ron's face is just priceless right now," a voice chuckled from beside Novi. She jumped, turning her head so fast, she almost gave herself a whiplash. It was one of the Weasley twins. "Fred told him that he has to battle a troll for the Sorting."

The Sorting Hat had begun to sing but Novi didn't bother to listen as she tried her hardest to suppress her laughter. The idea of throwing the unsuspecting first years to battle a troll to the brink of death was hilarious! She could only imagine the internal battle of worry that must have taken place inside of Ron the entire train ride. To say that she was glad when the Hat had finished so she could snort and laugh without being disruptive was an understatement.

Then, the long process of Sorting began. One by one, the first years were divided into four houses, being welcomed to their new families with applause. There were only a few students left when the most familiar name in the Wizarding World was called.

"Potter, Harry!"

It didn't take more than few seconds for the whole Great Hall to start whispering. Oliver and Mona, who didn't believe Novi at first, looked at her with their jaws slacken, before they all turned to take a good look at the famous Harry Potter.

The boy that Novi had seen on the train walked forward unsurely. Novi observed him and decided that he was a tiny boy. He was a little toward the shorter side, and skinny too – almost as if he had been malnourished. His brilliant green eyes swept across the Great Hall before it landed on Novi's and she gave him an encouraging thumb up before he put on the hat.

Agonizingly quiet minutes went by. Everyone in the Great Hall seemed to gasp and hold their breath when they saw the brim of the Hat twitch. Then it finally screamed "Gryffindor!"

Everyone seated at the Gryffindor table seemed to spring up from their seats naturally as they started to holler and cheer for their new addition. The Weasley twins were shouting "We got Potter," on top of their lungs, Mona and Novi were hollering along with everyone, and even Percy seemed to give a genuine smile.

"Well done, Harry," Novi said as the boy sat himself next to Percy, two seats away from her.

"Thanks, Novi," Harry replied with a big smile.

Soon, the delightful and magical feast had finished, followed by Dumbledore's short speech and the horrific school song, after that Percy and Novi stood. It was the responsibility of the new Fifth year prefects to deliver the first years to their new dormitories. They waved Oliver and Mona goodbye, who smirked at Novi, before they went on their way, leaving the two new Prefects to face the First Years.

"Gryffindors, gather round," Novi said. Her powerful voice carried over the excited chatters of the first years and they looked up at her immediately. She smiled, looking at Percy before she started. "First, I want to congratulate each and every one of you for making into Gryffindor."

"Now, my name is Percy, and this is Novela. We are the Fifth year prefects of the Gryffindor house. You can come to any one of us if you are lost, or having difficulties in the school."

"Speak for yourself, I still get lost in the corridors," Novi said quietly, but earned a few giggles from the first years who heard her. Percy looked pointedly at her with a slightly amused but mostly annoyed glare at this, but Novi raised her hands as if in defeat. "Alright there, grouch. I won't joke around anymore," she said, earning another few rounds of giggles within the crowd. "Anyway, before this wanker bites off my head, let's not beat around the bushes and get straight to it, yeah? Now we're going to show you the easiest and the fastest way from here to the dormitories."

"Thank you for that, Novela," Percy glared. "Alright, first years, follow me."

Then, the first years began to drag their feet, following the two Prefects. Novi and Percy lead them through hidden sliding panels and hanging tapestries and up multiple flights of stairs before Harry whispered to Ron.

"How did someone like her become a Prefect?" he asked. "I mean, I thought all Prefects would be like… Percy."

"I'm not entirely sure, but I know Novi's really smart. Maybe that's why," Ron whispered back.

Novi and Percy who heard the conversation broke into a little smile when they came face to face with Peeves, the school poltergeist.

"Maybe this will answer your question," Percy said to his brother and Harry. "Peeves!"

Then, with a pop the famous little poltergeist appeared before them. "Ooooooh! Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped.

"Not so fast, dear Peeves," Novi spoke up. She raised her trusty Gingko and Abraxan feather wand and chanted "_Cantis_!" Peeves suddenly broke into an uncontrollable singing. When he noticed that he couldn't stop, he began to sing in a series of colourful profanities while making rude gestures at Novi before flying away. The first years were laughing now, and Novi turned around made a very dramatic bow.

"Alright, alright," Percy rolled his eyes. "Anyway, you want to watch out for Peeves. The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects."

"Yeah, so learn your jinxes fast, so you can get rid of that little bugger," Novi winked back at them. "It also comes in handy when dealing with bigheaded Slytherins too."

"Novela!"

"Alright, alright," Novi laughed. "Well, here we are."

At the end of the hall, the portrait of the Fat Lady looked pointedly at the two returning students. Then, she looked over their shoulders to the first years before she raised an eyebrow. "Password?"

"Caput Draconis," Percy said, and the portrait swung forward.

Novi and Percy walked into the familiar Gryffindor common room. The cozy, round room, full of squashy armchairs, adorned with the Gryffindor colours made Novi smile before she turned back to the first years who were staring the room with awe. Percy directed the boys through one door to their dormitory and Novi pointed the girls to their beds before she returned to the common room.

"Alright there, Miss Prefect?" she heard a familiar voice say from behind her. She whirled around on the ball of her feet, breaking into a smile to the Gryffindor Quidditch captain and her best friend, Oliver.

"I'm alright, not going to bed yet?" Novi asked.

"Nah, I'm going to stay up and go through some Quidditch tactics," Oliver replied. "Come and join me, I know you want to," he added, sitting down on their favorite couch and patting the empty space beside him.

Novi smiled, seating herself in the empty seat beside the beautiful Scot. His arm instinctively went around hers as it always had for the past four years. And after a few seconds of silence, Oliver sighed.

"So, everything is going to be different for you now, I guess. What with Potter here," Oliver commented.

"Yeah… I guess it will," Novi said before her eyes drooped, begging for a long awaited slumber.

* * *

(A/N) Hey, just a reminder don't forget to follow, favorite, and review this story. Also check out 'Through Ella's Eyes' (Draco/OC) if you haven't already!

xx Bingum


	6. Chapter 6: Of Overly-excited Oliver

Of Overly-excited Oliver

* * *

In the next few days, Novi had become the star Prefect to the First Year Gryffindors. They idolized her carefree nature and free spirit, and though she was as smart as Percy and the other Prefects, she wasn't as tight-laced and boring. They preferred to ask Novi for help with their studies and navigation around the schools than any other Prefects as she played mild pranks in good tastes to help them relax and ease into the school life.

All the while, Novi was busy preparing for the OWLs as well. She was glad to have rejected the use of the Time-Turner, she did not really care to be running around trying to achieve twelve to thirteen OWLs, like Percy.

It was only the first Friday since the start of school, and Percy had been busy running around attending all of his classes. At breakfast, Percy was nowhere to be found, and Oliver had not come back from his personal Quidditch practice, leaving Novi and Mona to eat by themselves.

"Hey Novi," Harry smiled as he entered the Hall and sat himself across the older Gryffindor.

Novi and Harry had become quite close the past few days. To Harry, it seemed that Novi kept popping up everywhere, saving him from disappearing staircases and biting doorknobs. He thought all this to be because of her friendly personality and didn't question her as he considered her to be his mentor.

"Hello, Harry. What's on the schedule today?" Novi asked, taking a bite of the fluffy scrambled eggs.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," Ron groaned, dumping a mini heap of sugar mountain in his porridge. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them – we'll be able to see if it's true."

"Oh, it's true," Mona cut in. "He's a nightmare, honestly. Especially to Novi, he blatantly hates her."

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised. To Harry, Novi didn't seem the type of student the teachers could hate. Sure, she was goofy and thought everyone needed a laugh at times, but everyone could tell that she was very studious.

"Uh… well I don't know every details of it, but my father was a downright git at him when they attended Hogwarts together," Novi sniffed. "I could tell that he didn't like me because of the vendetta, so what did I do, being the smart person that I am? I did the exact same things my father did and pranked him on multiple occasions to live up to my father's legacy."

"Like last year when you bewitched his potions cabinet to swear at him?" Mona laughed. "Or the time when you sent him a Valentine's note saying that he needs a nose job?"

The two first years burst into a booming laughter when the mail started to fly in. Novi noticed Errol flying and dropping a letter for Ron, and a snowy white owl, dropping off a little note for Harry, when a letter from Remus arrived via school barn owl.

_Dearest Novi_

_Sorry I didn't warn you about Harry's arrival in advance, it completely flew over my head that he was already 11. I'm glad to hear that he has made friends with the younger Weasley boy, and adapting to Hogwarts well. I trust that you are keeping an eye on him, and hope that you're not teaching him anything fishy._

_As for your question, I don't think it is wise to tell Harry about your fathers. Some things are better left unsaid, after all. But if you insist, just wait another couple years until he is more mature to tell him about the incident._

_I hope you are doing well in Hogwarts, and have full confidence that you are ready for your OWLs. I am proud of you, and I know your mother, father, and uncle would have been very proud of you._

_Write soon,_

_Moony_

"Hello lovely lady," Novi heard a familiar voice whisper into her ear. She just about jumped up about a mile before whipping her head around, seeing Oliver.

"Oliver! You nearly gave me a heart failure! Make some noise when you walk," Novi bit grumpily.

"Sorry, Novi, but we do have to go to Ancient Runes. Let's go," Oliver said as he hoisted Novi out of the seat.

Mona gave her two friends a look with one of her eyebrow raised. She looked pointedly at Oliver before shrugging and waving her friends goodbye as she turned to talk to the two First Years again.

Time began to flow again in Hogwarts. Novi, Mona, Oliver, and Percy were all now very busy with the piling school work. Percy had already begun to break down and crack as he started to become more and more annoyed with everyone. Novi, still determined to study the complex art of wandlore after Hogwarts, stressed about the workload as she tried to review and preview all of her works. Mona, who wanted to become a Healer was also stressing, lagging behind in Potions class. It seemed that the only person who was not worried as much as the other three studious friends was Oliver.

Oliver always wanted to become a professional Quidditch player. He didn't really care for academics as much as his best friends and was happy with his marks so long as he didn't fail – except for useless classes such as History of Magic, which was pointless.

However, with added pressure of becoming the new Quidditch captain, he too, seemed to become more and more anxious. He was one player short in his team, a Seeker. He would've asked Mona, or even Novi, who were both excellent flyers, but knew that they would never have the time. So as he planned for the Quidditch tryouts, he began to worry.

"It'll be okay, Oliver. You'll find an excellent Seeker, I know," Mona tried to assure him as the four friends walked down the Charms corridor to Flitwick's class.

Oliver nodded gloomily at this. "Yeah, I hope so. I'm going to put up a signup sheet for the tryout in the Common Room today. Hopefully we have some potentials show up."

The four of them settled inside the class, as the bell rang. The four of them sat themselves, beginning to furiously write down what Flitwick was saying about the banishing charm they had learned last year. Well, at least the Mona, Percy, and Novi were writing notes, Oliver just sat gloomily, trusting that one of his friends would, later on, let him copy their notes.

It was then the back door opened with a quiet knock, and Professor McGonagall poked her head inside the classroom. All attention was on her as she curtly nodded to Professor Flitwick.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?" she asked.

All eyes quickly fell on Oliver now. He had his eyebrows bunched in a bit of a worry as he looked to Professor McGonagall to Professor Flitwick to Novi, who sat beside him, confused. He looked to Professor Flitwick again, who pointed for him to follow his Head of House.

When Oliver came back to the classroom he was beaming. He looked as if the weight of the world has been lifted off of his broom and had a bit of a bounce to his steps. Mona and Novi both looked at him, eyebrow raised, while Percy didn't even notice that Oliver came back as he was working on the essay that had just been assigned.

"What's up Ollie?" Mona whispered.

"It's a secret," he smiled. Then, he turned to Novi, who was still looking at him pointedly. "I'll tell you in private later, can I copy your notes now?"

Novi nodded as she passed her neatly written notes to Oliver. Oliver didn't even complain about the amount of notes she had taken and began to write the notes down word for word.

By the end of the lesson, Oliver was bouncing off of the seats, excited to tell Novi. As soon as the bell rang, he grabbed Novi's hand and ran out of the classroom, earning a lot of attention from people. He quickly went to a deserted hallway and then shoved her into one of the empty classrooms.

"Holy Helga, Oliver. Calm down before you wet yourself," Novi frowned.

"McGonagall found me a Seeker!" the boy boomed.

Novi was surprised at this. He had been all doom and gloom for the past few days, worrying about the tryout he would have to hold and _McGonagall_ found him a Seeker? "Who?"

"Don't tell Mona, I want it to be a surprise. It's Harry Potter!" he nearly screamed. "I always thought the boy was a Seeker material. Little, light, and speedy. I can't wait 'til I tell the team!" he said. Before he suddenly pulled her Novi into a sudden hug and kissed her full on the lips. "I'll come pick you up at the library for dinner. I have to go now."

Then, he was gone. Leaving a dumbfounded Novi in the empty classroom.

She looked back at where Oliver had disappeared through the door. Not that she hadn't fantasized about kissing Oliver in the past, but she didn't expect it to actually happen, let alone, in this manner. She decided that it was probably the whim of the moment, over excitement of finding a Seeker. And trying to push the incident behind the back of her mind, she headed for the library.

Meanwhile, Oliver found his teammates in a record time and told them about Harry. He was still bouncing from the excitement of having found a Seeker that even McGonagall approved of when he had been telling them. However, when the initial excitement died over, he suddenly was reminded of his actions concerning Novi in the empty classroom.

He found Mona, who, like Novi, had been heading for the library before she got there and pulled her aside.

"Oliver? What's wrong?" he asked. Apparently it was clearly written all over his face that he was worried, and that he had screwed up something.

"Can we talk?"

"Uh… yeah?" Mona questioned, before being leading him to the pretty deserted hallway. He looked as if he was going to throw up with nerves and Mona rolled her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you Oliver? One second you're all doom and gloom, and then you're bouncing off the walls, and now you look like someone set your broom on fire. What happened?"

Oliver swallowed some dry spit, "Ikindofsortofaccidentallykis sedNovi," he said. But Mona had already understood – how, she didn't know.

"What? How do you _accidentally_ kiss someone? That's like Petunia saying she accidentally fell onto Bletchley's dick. It's not really possible," Mona furrowed her eyebrows.

"Parkinson had sex with Bletchley?" Oliver gagged in disgust at the new information.

"You've got to be the dumbest person if you hadn't noticed them eyeing each other since third year," Mona rolled her eyes. "But anyway, back to the topic, how did you 'accidentally' kiss Novi?"

"Well, you know how I was really excited to tell Novi about – ah… something before I took her away after Charms? Well, we were in an empty classroom, and after I told her the news, I was really excited and I just… kissed her," Oliver said lamely. Even listening to the story himself, it sounded very stupid.

"So… you told her that you've been crushing on her since first year?" Mona asked, sounding a little hopeful.

"No… I just kissed her and then left. I didn't mean to do it, I was just so happy-,"

"You are the dumbest person ever, Oliver," Mona said darkly, glaring at her friend. "You can't just kiss her and then just disappear like that! Are you an idiot!?"

"Sorry, sorry. But-,"

"NO EXCUSES OLIVER! Anyway, you're lucky that you have the whole school year to make up for your mistake Oliver. I'm not going to keep hexing the boys that have a crush on Novi for you. You need to do something," Mona said. "Now, if you don't mind. I'm going to the library."

Then, leaving Oliver in the hallway, she went to the library, quickly finding Novi at their usual table at the farthest table, nearest to the Restricted Section by the window. She was frowning a little, looking intently at the Potions essay on Draught of Peace. She didn't notice Mona approaching until she sat her book down across from the girl, sitting down loudly.

"When you're done, can we compare our essays?" Mona asked, taking her own Potions essay out.

"Yuh-huh," Novi said as she went back to her essay.

Mona was surprised, she had thought that Novi would talk to her about Oliver kissing her as soon as they saw each other. So she cleared her throat a little, looking at her. "So what did Oliver want to tell you so bad?"

Novi flinched a little, and Mona could tell the inner debate whether she should tell or not. "He found a new Seeker. I promised not to tell who it is to anyone though," Novi said nonchalantly.

"Oh. I was hoping that maybe you guys confessed your feelings for each other and had some sexy time in the broom cupboard or something," Mona shrugged.

Novi choked on her own spit at that. Earning a pointed glare from Madam Pince and from the other Senior students. She quickly calmed down, before glaring at Mona who gave her a lopsided grin.

"Watch it, Ms. Farley. I'm a Prefect, you know," Novi joked as she pointed to her Prefects badge and winked.

"Well are you going to tell him anytime soon? You've been pining over him for forever," Mona asked as if she didn't know anything. She took out her quill, and started to write her essay, trying to seem like she was making casual conversations.

"I haven't been _pining _over Oliver for _forever_, Mona. But, as for your question, I don't know, okay? A lot of things are different now, what with Harry being here. I have to look out for him, you know?" Novi scrunched her nose. "Anyway, shut up and finish your Potions essay so we can trade it. I'm going to work on some Runes, I bet Oliver hasn't even touched his homework, and it's due tomorrow."

* * *

(A/N) Yes, very cheesy chapter but we find out that Oliver had been reciprocating the feeling for quite some time! Maybe next chapter I'll be able to write some flashbacks to show how their previous years had been? Yay or Nay?

Anyway, if you love this story and want me to update soon give me a shout in my reviews! And don't forget to follow, or favourite this story, or myself to get alerts about my updates!

Cheers

xx Bingum


	7. Chapter 7: Oliver's Attempts

Chapter 7: Oliver's Attempts

* * *

Oliver was confused.

From his knowledge of women, from all the Muggle movies and plays, he had been confident that Novi would bring up the kiss sometime. It was expected. The girl was supposed to come questioning, asking if the kiss meant anything, the two characters would confess their undying love for each other, they would kiss, and get together. Happily ever after.

However, Novi never mentioned the kiss again to Oliver. Not the day after, and not a week after. In fact, she didn't even act any different from before.

To say that Oliver was discouraged was an understatement. However, it did bring a smile into his face, remembering the incident at the Farley mansion last winter.

* * *

_December 29, 1990_

The best thing about the Farley family was that, even though they had come from generations of pureblood Slytherins and Ravenclaws, they weren't pureblood supremacists. Sure, they did associate with the likes of Malfoys, Parkinsons, and other pureblood families, but they never believed in 'good blood' and 'bad blood'. In fact, when their youngest, Mona, was sorted Gryffindor, they were altogether delighted and fascinated. They also voiced their hope, that further down the road, they will have someone sorted into Hufflepuff.

Maybe it was because of this upbringing, that Gemma Farley, Mona's older sister, was the nicest Slytherin that Novi, Oliver, and Percy have met. That was the reason, when Gemma had asked them to her 17th birthday, they agreed, even when they knew that they would be surrounded by Gemma's Slytherin friends.

"Hello, Oliver, Percy," Gemma greeted the two Gryffindor boys.

With Mona and Novi still upstairs, getting ready for the long night, Percy and Oliver were the only Gryffindors at this party. So to avoid the sneering the Slytherins had been giving them, they were waiting by the bottom of the staircase, uncomfortable in their dress robes.

"Hello, Gemma. Thank you for inviting us to your lovely home," Percy nodded, giving her a rare smile. "Congratulations on becoming seventeen. You look the utmost beautiful."

"Such flattery, Percy," Gemma giggled, flipping her long blonde hair and straightening her silvery-white dress. "Well, I think I see them now."

Behind the boys, descending down the staircase was Mona and Novi. Both Oliver and Percy couldn't keep their mouth shut at the new development.

Mona, who was usually very loud and boisterous, not to mention, clumsy, looked like other Pureblood children, prim and proper. She had her long blonde hair in an elegant twist, and her makeup was more prominent, making her brown eyes pop. She had on a dark green Chinese collared dress that hugged her tall body perfectly.

Oliver, however, though he had acknowledged his blonde friend's presence, his eyes were fixated on Novi. He trailed down his eyes down the entirety of her body. Her mousy brown hair was in a messy bun, her makeup made her more beautiful with daring red lips, and with the elegant, bow-collared dress…

"Flies, Oliver," Mona whispered to Oliver harshly when she came to the bottom of the stairs. He quickly shut his mouth with a little clack as he still stared at Novi.

"Gemma, happy birthday," Novi chimed, giving the older girl a hug. "Thank you for the invitation, it's always a pleasure to be here."

"It's always a pleasure to have you here. You're practically family," Gemma replied. "Well, I trust that you're in good hands with these gentlemen, I'll see you around," she nodded before she walked away.

"Well, you boys really know how to clean up after yourselves," Mona said as she turned toward the two boys.

"Same to both of you," Percy said. "I mean, you can fit in right along with the Slytherins."

"I resent that statement," Novi said as she crinkled her nose.

"So, what do you think, boys? Doesn't she look fantastic?" Mona asked as she twirled Novi like a ragdoll, making her scowl. "Took a lot of damn convincing to make her wear the damned red lipstick. But I would say that last minute decision made the whole outfit, what do you think, Oliver?"

Oliver's eyes flickered to her lips for a second; they looked both lovely and intimidating. It sent shivers of excitement and thrill, similar to what he felt when he flew on his broom too fast and it starts to shake out of control. Oliver gulped, inwardly shivering at the thought, before smiling. "All I know is that Ms. Black looks absolutely gorgeous tonight."

Novi blushed a slight pink at this but smirked, her grey eyes twinkling. "Well aren't you Mr. Giacomo Casanova himself?" she stated more than asked. But their moment was cut short when Mona cleared her throat. "Well, anyway. Nobody drink the firewhiskey offered to them, alright?" she smiled brightly.

"Novela, what did you do?" Percy groaned, knowing something was up. "These people are all going to grow up to be the most influential people in the Wizarding world, you don't want to play your little games on them."

"Actually, I really, really do," Novi answered.

"Just let her be, Percy. Come on, let's go have something to eat," Mona said as she not-so-discretely lead Percy away from them, giving them a sly grin.

"Well, Oliver. Watch as my genius-ness play out," Novi said as she discretely pulled him towards the corner of the front lobby, near to the door to the library.

Then, a slight shriek was heard from the centre of the room. Everyone's eyes fell upon the noise immediately, some with their wand raised.

In the middle of the room was Olivia Shardlow, one of the snobby Slytherin in seventh year. She was staring wide-eyed at an old man with a horrid face. It took a few seconds for everyone to realize, that this was, in fact, her boyfriend, Byron Miller. Some people burst out into a fit of laughter while others tried to help the panicking boy.

"Aging Potion?" Oliver asked with his eyebrow raised.

"And Fungiface Potion," Novi stated happily as more screams and laughter was ensued. "Come on," she said as she led him into the library.

After they closed the doors the two of them immediately burst out into laughter, falling on the Victorian couches that adorned the centre of the library.

"That was very evil of you," Oliver said between his gasps of laughter. "Now Gemma has to deal with them being angry."

"Nah, Mona and I told her beforehand to expect some ruckus, and we tipped her off to not drink the firewhiskey," the girl replied. That's when she dug through her little black clutch and pulled out a bottle of the said alcohol from her charmed bag. "Do you want some?"

"Is it going to make mushrooms grow on my face?" Oliver asked, taking the bottle anyway.

"Do you not trust me?" Novi laughed.

"If I learned anything from the last three and a half years, is to not trust anything you give me," Oliver said with his eyebrow raised, but nevertheless, he took several large gulps of the firewhiskey, feeling the burn travel down his throat.

"It's not mixed with potion, I swear," Novi said as she took the bottle and drank from it. She then stood up from where she sat on the lavish chair, walking around the big library and looking at the books.

Perhaps it was because of the alcohol taking effect on him fast at this point. But as Oliver watched Novi, taking a big swig of the firewhiskey - quite unladylike, he couldn't help but think how beautiful she was. Yes, at the moment she may have been dressed like the proper pureblood witch, but inside, she was just a carefree and juvenile teenager. He found these qualities in Novi very attractive. Some may have called it the first-love fantasies, but he knew, and he's always known, that she's _the one_.

"Novi, look-," Oliver started, getting up from his seat, determined to tell her his feelings, when the door flew open.

"Oh, oops. Are we interrupting something?" a nasally voice that belonged to none other than Helia Crabbe said, giggling rather much like a horse. She was entangled with a very drunk looking Marcus Flint, stopped mid-snog.

"Didn't know you had it in ya, Wood. I always thought you had a pussy," Flint sneered with a cocky grin. He looked Novi up and down with hungry eyes. "Well don't let us rain on your parade, continue," he said as he left the room.

"Why that-," Oliver started, walking towards the door.

"Oliver, don't. He's not worth it… not on Gemma's birthday," Novi said as she caught up to him quickly. He looked as she looped her arm around his and looked with completely oblivious eyes. "Come on, we should go eat something before absolutely everything is gone."

* * *

"Hello, Earth to Oliver," someone was waving their hand in front of Oliver.

Oliver snapped out of it, he was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, the Weasley twins waving their hand in front of him. Oliver stopped biting his thumb, looking around to see that it was dark out.

"Hey Fred, hello George," he said as he stretched his arms into the air yawning.

"So who is it, mate?" one of the twins, Oliver didn't know which, asked.

"What?" Oliver asked.

"The girl you were fantasizing about, who is it?" the other twin asked.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. What time is it, anyway?" Oliver said as he got up from his seat at the study desk.

"Come on, mate. You've been sitting there-,"

"-by yourself-,"

"-smirking and biting your thumb-,"

"-not to mention, drooling."

"We know you love Quidditch-,"

"-but we're pretty sure that-,"

"-you're not having some wet dream about a Quidditch move-,"

"-that you're studying out of the Quidditch throughout the Ages."

"Or we really hope you're not." They finished together.

"You know it's really annoying when you guys finish each other's sentences like that?" Oliver sneered.

"You're avoiding the question, man. So who's the lucky lady?" one asked. "Is it Novi by any chance?"

Oliver choked on his own spit at this. Coughing as he tried to force the saliva from going down the wrong tube, he glared at the two Weasleys between his wheezing and coughing.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot right away, George," Fred said, smirking deviously from George to Oliver.

"Dude, what are you waiting for? Don't wait for the grass to grow, ask her out. What's keeping you?" George asked.

"You don't understand. I don't think Novi likes me that way. Besides, now that I'm getting older, I have to focus more on Quidditch if I want to go professional, I can't be-,"

"Don't give us that excuse. Come on, mate. Ask her out to Hogsmeade. This Halloween," George said as the two twins started to follow Oliver who was walking rather fast toward his room in the boys' dormitory.

"I know you guys only have two classes in the morning that day," Fred said as he jabbed his finger between Oliver's ribs.

"Gentlemen, I thank you for the offer. I'll let you know if I need any assistance, alright? Lay off, and don't you think for a second you made me forget about Quidditch practice at 6am tomorrow!" Oliver called before he disappeared through the door, making the twins groan.

"Hey, Novi, what do you say we sneak out to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Oliver asked during dinner the night before Halloween.

Percy grumbled disapprovingly. He muttered to himself about how Novi was a prefect, and shouldn't be doing anything against the school rules, setting a better example for the younger students, but he knew better then to try and stop them if they made up their mind. Besides, he would never admit to his brothers, but he had snuck out with them on some occasions. Mona, usually always initiating the little escapade didn't think much of it before it dawned on her. Oliver had just asked Novi out! It was very subtle, but she was sure of it.

"I don't know, Oliver," Novi said, biting into her chocolate gateau. "The Hogsmeade trip isn't too far away, maybe we should wait? Plus, I want to keep an eye on Harry as much as possible."

"Come on, Novi, it's just for half a day," Mona pushed.

"No, sorry. Besides, I have a career interview with McGonagall," Novi said right away, setting the decision final. "Sorry Oliver, but on the first Hogsmeade trip we can sneak back early and ride our brooms over the Black Lake?" Novi asked with puppy eyes, trying to make the pouting Oliver feel better.

Oliver gave her a pointed look, but it didn't last long as the corner of his lips tugged upwards in order to supress his smile. "Alright," he said, "as you wish."

"You guys are so cute it makes me diarrhea rainbows," Mona grumbled. "Anyway, let's head back."

* * *

(A/N) Hello everyone, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been faithfully following my story. But I just wanted to remind everyone that you don't need an account to leave a nice little REVIEW at the end, so show me some more lovin'! Don't forget to favorite and follow this story or me if you love my writing. Thanks,

xx Bingum


	8. Chapter 8: Eventful Hallowe'en

Chapter 8: Eventful Hallowe'en

* * *

It didn't dawn on Novi that Oliver may have been asking her out until she was skipping towards McGonagall's office the next day. She wasn't sure, but Oliver usually never quite formally asked her about sneaking to Hogsmeade in the past. They usually would just be strolling about the castle, and when the opportunity presented itself, they would casually do so.

Novi decided that she was probably only getting her hopes up. The two of them had snuck out to explore the many secret passages, alleyways, and caves on many occasions, and those weren't 'dates'. Perhaps asking was his subtle hint that he needed to go to the Spintwitches to get new practice gear.

"Well, are you going to come in, Black? Or are you going to just stand there?" McGonagall's voice broke Novi's train of thoughts. Unknowingly, deep in thought, the young witch had already been standing in front of the open Transfiguration classroom.

"Sorry Professor, spacing, as per usual," Novi grinned seating herself across the Professor who gave her an amused look with both her eyebrow raised.

"So it says here that your electives were Ancient Runes and Arithmancy," McGonagall started, looking through the files of the young witch with her oval-shaped glasses. "What types of career were you looking to pursue after your graduation from Hogwarts?"

"Well… it may sound silly, but I was hoping that I could learn wandlore?" Novi questioned more than stated.

Professor McGonagall gave Novi a surprised look. "Well I don't think it is silly at all, Ms. Black. But I am curious to know, why? With your level of academic success I had assumed that you would be pursuing a job at the Ministry?"

Novi chuckled. "Well, it has always been a subject of interest for me – wandlore I mean. I would never be interested in a big function such as the Ministry, I prefer more personal, and private line of career," she said before her face became dark. "This is not to say, I have never been interested. In my earlier days, I have thought to become a barrister. That idea was quickly abandoned as I grew older, with who my father is, it is not a possibility."

At this, Professor McGonagall gave the girl a sympathetic and grave smile. "Well, Ms. Black, learning the art of wandlore is a wonderful idea, but it is a big commitment, indeed. Have you started looking into apprenticeship yet?"

"The discussion came up once or twice with Mr. Ollivander. He was interested in teaching since his own son had pursued a career as a broom designer as opposed to a wandmaker," Novi shrugged. "I never thought to seek out Gregorovitch, and Mr. Ollivander always told me that he'd rather set his own toe on fire than to see me studying under Mr. Kiddell."

McGonagall gave a small smile at this. "Well, if Ollivander has taken an interest in teaching you, I have no further advice to give to you, except to keep your marks up, Ms. Black. If you have a change of heart, however, I will be more than happy to reference you, and give further advice."

At the dismissive tone, Novi got up, about to leave the room when she heard the Head of House clearing her throat. The young witch looked back. "Ms. Black. I have noticed that you weren't causing as much disruptions this year. However happy I am with this new development, I must not overlook that this may be because of Mr. Potter's arrival at the school," she paused, looking at the young witch's familiar gray eyes. "You're your own person, don't let false sense of guilt interfere with your life. Well, have a wonderful rest of the day, and see you at the feast."

* * *

Mona, Percy, and Oliver knew better than to interrupt Novi's brooding when she had gotten back from her interview with McGonagall. They didn't know _what_ had gone wrong, but something had definitely ticked the girl off. On days like these, they preferred to stay away from her vicinity, knowing she would come to them when she was done fuming.

Meanwhile, Novi had, what some may view as, unnecessary internal battle. What Professor McGonagall has said to her made sense, it wasn't as if she had any direct relation to Sirius Black's betrayal to the Potters. However, just the fact that her _father_ was the reason for Harry Potter's unfortunate events made her irk. She felt responsibility that others did not understand. She felt the obligation to pay him back somehow, although she knew that no payment or actions could replace the boy's state of being parentless and the constant misery he had to face because of it.

"Hey, Novi, why the long face?" the said boy asked when he entered the common room.

Her friends snapped their heads towards them immediately, almost fearful for Harry. They were sure that Novi was going to lash out and curse the poor boy when she surprised the lot. She smiled. Albeit weakly, but the corners of her lips tugged upwards as she looked at Harry and Ron.

"It's a tiring task to be me, Harry. I mean, emanating all these awesome?" the girl joked cockily. The two first years laughed lightheartedly at this. "Nothing a little sweets cannot fix. My guardian has a notion that chocolate can fix all negative emotions – which includes tiredness – something that I believe wholeheartedly."

"Well then it's a good thing that it's Halloween tonight. We can get your foul mood in check," Mona intervened the conversation lightly. Novi gave a mock glare but the corners of her mouth tweaked, signalling that she was done her gloom-fest. "Well, what are we waiting for? I definitely have a craving for that-,"

"- infamous Hogwarts carrot cakes. We know," Novi rolled her eyes. She got up from her seat at the windowsill-couch promising the two first years she will see them in the Great Hall before she joined her best friends.

"Done huffing and puffing, are you?" Percy nudged. "Well, come on, then. I'm starving."

"You Weasleys are always _starving_," Oliver laughed, but nonetheless, he guided Novi through the swarm of over-excited students.

Novi blushed a little at this, very aware of the warm hand that was placed gently in the middle of her back. Her mind briefly remembered the earlier contemplation on whether Oliver had asked her out and she blushed.

Mona gave her a pointed look with an eyebrow raised at this when she caught Novi's eyes. Novi _almost_ looked as if she was becoming embarrassed before her face became stony. Mona shuddered at this, it was disturbing to see how much Novi acted like her pureblood cousins – hiding all emotions when they didn't wish it to be revealed. The only difference she had from them was that she wore a mischievous smirk that made one uneasy.

When the Great Hall came into view, the façade that Novi seemed to be putting up seemed to disappear as she took in the sight of it all. The ceiling was lit with a thousand jack-o-lanterns, live bats were hanging from the enchanted ceilings or flying rather low, creating a wisp of black clouds. But the true enchantment of it all was from all the excited faces of the students feasting on various colourful pies and cakes and sweets. Novi broke into a smile before she rushed towards the Gryffindor table and the foursome sat down to join their fellow mates with high spirits.

They hadn't been feasting for too long, however, when the most unexpected news came flying into the Great Hall. Professor Quirrell, with his turban askew and face frantic, came sprinting into the busy feast. He reached the Head Table, grasping the table and panted "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know," before he promptly fainted cold.

The Great Hall became an uproar as the students began to scream and panic, dropping their food and rushing out to conceal themselves where they deemed safe. Even the senior students began to panic as they all got up, pushing aside the younger students with their tall figures, to ensure their safety first.

No need to say, it took several of Professor Dumbledore's purple firecracker exploding from the tip of his wand to claim everyone's attention.

"Prefects," he rumbled imposingly. "Bring your Houses back to the dormitories immediately."

Percy was instantly in his zone as he began to give orders around the first years to form a line and keep together. Novi, giving a little smirk at the amusement of these situation and all, followed suit as well, calling out for the second years to keep close with the first years. Mona and Oliver, not being prefects themselves, fell into sync with their other fifth years, trusting that Novi and Percy will be fine.

When the two Fifth year prefects reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, they hurriedly made everyone get inside before the two followed. But it only took merely seconds before Novi started panicking.

The familiar sight of the messy tuft of black hair, the recognizable flaming red hair, and the brown frizz Novi had come to know had not entered.

"Where the devil is your brother, Percy? Where are Ron, Harry and the Granger girl?" Novi asked frantically, trying to look around the common room to see if they had arrived with the upperclassmen.

Percy began to look paler than usual, just noticing that his youngest brother was missing while there was a Troll on the loose inside the castle. Novi let out a series of colourful obscenities flow out of her mouth as she began to stalk towards the portrait hole again.

"Novela Mary Black, don't you dare-," Mona started but with a cold look from Novi, the said girl disappeared through the hole, her wand clutched in her hand dangerously. "Shag. Me. Sideways. That idiot girl!" Mona screamed in frustration.

Meanwhile, Novi was bounding down the series of staircases with great speed. She didn't know _how_ or _where_ she may find them, but she couldn't think straight as blinding fear clouded her judgement. However, Novi decisively followed her nose, picking up the faint scent of the horrid smell of the Troll. She was nearly at the third floor when the familiar screech she would recognize anywhere screamed her name.

"MS. BLACK. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING OUT?"

Novi's eyes flickered to the infuriated Head of House. McGonagall, along with Snape and Quirrell were scuffling quickly towards her. It appeared they were following the mere scent as well.

"Professor! Some of first years are missing. I didn't know what else to-,"

_CRASH!_ Suddenly, her words were cut short by the booming noise in the direction of the girl's lavatory. The four individual's eyes all darted towards the washroom before Novi made a beeline for the washroom, expecting the worst.

The sight that donned Novi made her jaw drop. In the nearly completely destroyed girl's bathroom was a twelve feet tall mountain troll, knocked out cold amongst the debris of the place. Around the troll, standing, without so much as a broken bone was Harry, Ron, and the Granger girl.

"Novi!" Harry acknowledged, startled that she was the one to find them first. He was about to say something to explain himself when he saw the dark look that Novi gave them before the professors came rushing in.

Quirrell whimpered as he sat himself on a toilet, uselessly. Snape bent over to look at the troll. But McGonagall looked almost as livid as Novi was. "What on earth were you thinking of?" she spat with coldness. "You're lucky you weren't killed. I am sure I saw you both at the feast, why didn't you follow Ms. Black and the others back up to your dormitory?"

"Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me," came the quiet squeak.

"Miss Granger!"

"I went looking for the troll because I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read about them," the girl said. Novi frowned. The girl has approached Percy and herself on occasion with questions on her academics. She just didn't seem like the type to go find trouble. "If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

"Well – in that case…" McGonagall said, staring at the three first years. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tacling a mountain troll on your own? Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this. I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses." And with that, the Granger girl left without any further ado. "Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go. Miss Black, if you would please."

"Come on, Ron, Harry," Novi said as she hurriedly left the chamber, the two first years tailing her quickly.

They didn't speak for a while, Harry and Ron could basically feel the anger radiating off of Novi. Ron and Harry kept taking glances at each other, not knowing how to strike up a conversation, or break the tension.

Finally, when they reached the staircases, Harry spoke. "Novi, I'm sorry if we upset you with you know… not following you back to your dormitory-,"

"Please, Harry. I'm not upset about that," Novi snipped. She then rubbed her temple as if she was suffering from a headache and turned towards the boys. "I'm just… bloody hell. Ron, can you imagine how distraught your mother would have been if you'd been injured?" Ron hung his head at this, knowing it to be true, then Novi's eyes flickered to Harry. "Harry, your parents gave their lives to keep you alive. A poor way to repay them – chasing after trolls."

Harry looked down to his feet, not knowing what to say. He did not think of it that way. The only thing on his mind when he heard the Hermione scream was that he should not leave her behind.

"But I do think it's very Gryffindor of you," Novi's voice cut Harry's train of thoughts. "I know many of the Gryffindors would have done the same thing if they were in your predicament. Such blind and stupid courage, but hey, I'm sure I would've done the same. Pig snout." Novi said to the portrait of Fat Lady letting the two first years in.

Upon entering, the three of them saw that Hermione Granger was waiting for them at the door of the portrait hole. Harry gave his little thanks to which Novi just nodded and smiled to before she swaggered to her usual seat by the windowsill-couch.

"Novi!" Oliver who had been sitting on her seat was the first to notice her. He quickly darted across, meeting Novi halfway. His face was full of worry and panic, and he grabbed her face and arm, searching for any injuries.

"Relax, Oliver. I'm alright," Novi said smiling as she sat herself on the now empty seat.

"NOVELA MARY BLACK. YOU GOT ME WORRIED SICK!" Mona screamed dramatically before she pulled her into a hug. "You, you just wait until I tell Remus what you were up to! You overly-chivalrous twat!"

"Well technically I didn't do anything. I just escorted Harry and Ron back after they already half-killed the troll," Novi shrugged. "As for Rem. He'll be pissed, but he'll understand. I am never the one to leave a damsel in distress."

"Yeah, like when you took a Bludger to the face for Percy?" Oliver laughed.

* * *

_March 1988_

Flying lessons were always a struggle for Percy. He wanted to excel in all of his courses, so Percy had been trying his hardest in the class, but being the academic person he is, he preferred his feet to be firmly planted on the ground. Besides, he didn't quite fancy being bloodied up, battered, and dirty like Mona, Novi and Oliver did when playing Quidditch. So when Madam Hooch announced that she will be releasing the Bludgers into the makeshift games they had been playing, Percy was terrified.

Percy quickly attached himself to his other three best friends and some Gryffindors who looked at him with amusement at his discomfort, but their smiles fell when they saw their opposing team. Flint, Goyle, Bletchley, and Higgs, along with three other Slytherins were eyeing Percy like he was a hunk of meat.

"Well, this will be interesting," Mona said, trying to cheer up the group.

They hadn't been up in the air for long, though, however, when they clearly started to target Percy with the Bludgers. Percy, suppressing his urges to screech every time a Bludger got close to him, was sweating from his palms and out of breath. He stopped in the middle of the field, exhausted from running away the whole game, when he heard Novi screaming.

Suddenly, wild mane of mousy brown hair covered his vision before a sickening crack rang throughout the field. And Percy couldn't do anything but watch as Novi fell from over fifty feet in the air, plummeting down to the hard ground below.

* * *

"I got a downright lecture from Rem when that happened," Novi laughed.

"Well are you surprised? You broke your nose and four different bones on your face. Not to mention the broken arm and four ribs. You were bed-ridden because of me for a solid week," Percy frowned.

"I vaguely remember that. Rem said something about it. He said I wouldn't have an actual cheekbone to hold up my face if we had to fix it the Muggle way," Novi shrugged. "And you did my homework for a solid month after that because you felt bad. I'd do it again if we went back in time."

"You're such a Gryffindor," Oliver chuckled, pulling her into a hug. "So how about some chocolate, senorita?"

* * *

(A/N) Hello everyone, wow it really has been a while since I wrote a chapter in this story:/ To be perfectly honest, I had a writer's block and I had no idea what to do with this chapter. Anyway, this chapter was supposed to further show Novi's internal struggle with her responsibility for Harry, also it's supposed to show how both of them are very "Gryffindor-esque" even when the Sorting Hat has told them otherwise.

Anyway, if you haven't already, check out my other story Through Ella's Eyes (Draco/OC). And if you like this story, please don't forget to **review**, **favorite, **and **follow**. Thanks!


	9. Chapter 9: The Private Fly

Chapter 9: The Private Fly

Wow it really has been a while huh? Oops.

Sorry to keep y'all waiting, but if you do follow my other story, you'll already know that I was actually in Korea and in and out of the Hospital for some health reasons. And then after I uploaded the last chapter of my other story Through Ella's Eyes, I went MIA for a bit cause well... it was my birthday!

Anyway, here's the long awaited chapter.

* * *

_Dearest Novi_

_Although I am glad the next letter from Hogwarts since last you've written me was from you and not some angry Professor demanding you need some discipline, I was less than thrilled at the contents of the letter. Though, if I must be perfectly honest, the Marauder inside me is a little amused at the entirety of the event. It is not every day a rogue Mountain Troll breaks into the Castle._

_I am relieved to hear that you, Harry, and his friends are all safe. Although it does worry me a little that Harry has taken after his father's talent in looking for trouble, just as you have taken after yours. However this amuses me greatly, that history is repeating itself, I must ask you to try and keep an eye on him, just so he is not getting into any real trouble. And you aren't exempt from this either, you have responsibilities now, being a Prefect and all._

_I am glad to hear that your OWL year is treating you well. Keep me informed on your plans for the upcoming holidays too. I understand if you would like to stay behind at Hogwarts to study, though I'd like the company over the Christmas. The house is not the same without you, and I miss you._

_Hope to hear from you soon,_

_Moony_

Novi couldn't help but smile at the letter. She could almost see Remus trying to contain his grin that threatened to break out into his usual solemn face as he read about the Troll. She could definitely imagine his face when he wrote about her being a Prefect as well. He probably knew that if Novi had been there, she would laugh and remind him of his days as Prefect, and how he had failed miserably to behave himself.

"Letter from Remus, I reckon?" Mona asked, coming out the shower with a towel wrapped around her head and wearing a rather snug, black satin bathrobe. If Mona didn't know her best friend well enough, she would have thought Novi had just received a letter from a secret admirer what with the uncontrollable grin on her face, but she knew better. Novi always had some kind of secret joke going on with her guardian.

Novi nodded, still grinning and folding the letter and putting it on her nightstand. She would write him a letter soon, telling him she would rather eat her own esophagus than stay at the school during the holidays.

"I had to update him on the Troll incident. He seems pleased and amused," Novi smiled.

"You and Remus have some sort of Harry Potter fetish. I mean, the kid is just a scrawny little git," Mona joked with a wink, making Novi chuckle. "Anyway, I need to make you picturesque today! Lots to do!"

Novi frowned, not knowing if that was supposed to be an insult or not. She watched as Mona dressed in a flashy top and pair of jeans that hugged her tall, willowy form perfectly with sour expression. It was Hogsmeade day today, and for whatever reason, Mona always made a big deal about Hogsmeade day. She would dress the both of them head to toe in dressy outfit and then take pictures throughout the day on her camera.

Novi grumbled, getting out of her own fluffy white bathrobe. "I don't know what the big deal is, it's not like we have to impress Percy and Oliver," she stated as she put on a white Nordic sweater dress over the indigo blue leggings. She immediately shut her mouth though, when she saw the piercing gaze of Mona, daring her to say another word.

"Don't you take away my fun, arsehat. I've gotten a new camera over the holidays and I've been dying to use it. A wizard's Polaroid camera! I can't think of a better day to use it. And I thought you'd want to look fantastic on your first date with Oliver today," Mona said as she pulled out her bag of CharmCosmetics.

Novi paused her action of putting on her eyeliner, giving Mona a confused look. "Who said I was going to go on a date with Oliver?"

"Please, tell me that was your intention," Mona gave an exasperated look. When Novi stared blankly, she rolled her eyes and dropped her voice to a soft alto to imitate her best friend's voice. "Oh, sorry Oliver that I rejected your date offer because I have an unhealthy maternal attachment to Harry Potter, but on the first Hogsmeade trip, we can sneak back early and I can go on a magical broom ride on top of you."

"MONA!" Novi screamed, flabbergasted at her friend's crudeness. Novi could feel her whole face become beet red with embarrassment as their other roommates giggled.

"Okay, so maybe that's not exactly what you said," Mona waved her hand around nonchalantly, seemingly ignorant to the attention that the two of them were gathering from their roommates. "But going on a private fly over the Black Lake with Oliver sounds like a date."

Novi didn't say anything as she tried to calm her flaming cheeks down. And by the time the two girls descended down the stairs to meet Percy and Oliver, Novi was still quiet, glaring at Mona.

"You alright, ducky? You seem a little red," Oliver said as he lifted his hand and ran the back of his hand against Novi's face.

"Fine. I am just appalled at the fact that not only does Mona have a sailor mouth, but she has the corrupt mind to match," Novi deadpanned, making Oliver and Percy raise their eyebrows.

"Well, this will be a very interesting tale to share all in good due time, but are we going to hustle or what? And are those muffins for sharing?" Mona asked, ignoring Percy as he frowned at the word hustle, and proceeded to help herself to a banana muffin.

Soon the four best friends quickly made their way to Hogsmeade. They hadn't been there as a group altogether since last year's first trip, due to everyone's crazy schedules. They had decided to walk it, seeing that they had an earlier start then everyone else, and Mona and Novi couldn't resist but to jinx the two boys' shoelaces to tie together. When the two boys finally managed to separate themselves, everyone, walking or on their carriage got to witness as the four Fifth year Gryffindors, screaming and running all the way to Hogsmeade. Novi and Mona letting out shrills of laughter and yelps while the two boys gave some sort of battle cry, hot on their heels.

Eventually, the four friends were inside of Scrivenshaft's. When they lot of them first visited Hogsmeade on their third year, rather than going into the bustling shop of Honeydukes first, they had come into this shop. It was just their luck that they had all ended up purchasing the same quills, and from then on it was their good luck tradition to the start of their year to purchase matching quills. This year, they had taken upon themselves to purchase rather flashy black and red quills for good luck on their OWLs.

Then they proceeded to visit Tomes and Scrolls, where every year none of them but Percy would end up buying a rather thick and dull book. Then they visited Spintwitches, where Percy grumbled and followed around the rest of his friends as they ecstatically flipped through the newest editions of the Quidditch magazines before the store clerk drove them away.

"Only one place to go before Three Broomsticks," Percy sang a little, glad to be out of Spintwitches and eyeing the colourful candy store ahead.

"Indeed, seeing that none of us want to go to Zonko's this time around," Mona said, flipping through the multiple Polaroid pictures she had taken throughout the day. She was also excited to go to Honeydukes where every year she would buy unhealthy amount of candies, and then to go have a warm butterbeer with some bar foods before going back to the castle.

"Actually, I was thinking if Mister Wood was up for it, we'd slink away right after Honeydukes. I did promise him a fly over the Black Lake, after all," Novi said with a surprising amount of confidence. "How about it, Mister Wood, fancy a fly?"

Oliver was speechless for a second, and felt his stomach flutter with excitement. The idea of spending some private time with Novi made his heart race. Oliver had always been very successful at getting Novi to spend alone time with him, but they haven't done so since Harry came into the picture. So trying to calm his erratic heart he gave her a smile. "I'd love to. I didn't think you'd remember."

"Of course I did," she replied, pretending to be offended. The four of them had already arrived in front of Honeydukes by then, joining the bustling candy shop that contained the excited Hogwarts students of all houses and years. "Well come on then, the faster we shop, faster we can go, Oliver."

* * *

From Dumbledore's office, he could see the two Gryffindors coming back from the nearing town early. His twinkling blue eyes observed the pair as they jokingly pushed each other around lightheartedly, their laughs melodic and serene over the tranquil landscapes surrounding Hogwarts.

He watched as one of his brightest and wittiest student, Novela Mary Black pull out her wand, quickly vanishing her shopping bag and doing the same to her friend, Oliver's. Then he watched as the two Gryffindors summoned their respective brooms, catching them with ease when the said object zoomed across the school.

When the pair started to fly over the Black Lake, Dumbledore couldn't help but have a very fatherly smile appear across his old face. Flying so close to the waters of the Black Lake as they were was ill-advised to the students, since the Giant Squid may unsuspectingly swat them by accident. However, Dumbledore thought to himself that even Professor McGonagall, who was very strict, would not have reprimanded her students if she were to witness the sights before him.

Indeed, the scene that lay in front of him was very panoramic. The sun, which had begun to set earlier as the cold winter approached quickly, lighted the endless stretch of water in a thousand glittering diamonds. The long stretched shadows of the old mountains and the tall trees swayed little and made rustling noises as if singing, and made the landscape all the more lovely. The two figures that flew closely across the water could have made even the stoniest hearts sigh with the oblivious adoration that was displayed before him. And Dumbledore hoped that this innocence could last as long as possible for the lovely girl that he had come to know.

* * *

"So you never did tell me how the date with Oliver went," Mona asked in between her huge bites of her morning biscuit with jam.

Percy gave a disgusted look at this, flicking off the crumb that had flown from Mona's mouth to his face, he couldn't help but stray his eyes from his Herbology textbook with interest. "You had a date with Oliver?" he asked curiously as he eyed his grey eyed friend. "How come I wasn't aware of any of this?"

"Not that you'd ever be aware of anything, seeing that your face is buried inside a book, even at breakfast," Novi rolled her eyes. Novi always hated when people didn't socialize during meals. "But you weren't informed because it was not a date."

"Rubbish, quite a few people saw the pair of you when they were coming back from the Village. Everyone thinks the pair of you are together now," Mona said determinedly. "You just need to make it official, give it the title, you already act like a couple."

Novi didn't say anything to retort as she looked over to where Oliver was. It was the morning of the biggest match of Hogwarts of all times, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and he was busy making sure all of his teammates ate something, though he wasn't touching any food himself. Novi could tell that he was nervous behind his strict façade and smiled. The smile only grew larger as Oliver felt her gaze and looked towards her and then sauntered his way over to them.

"Nervous, Captain?" Novi teased as he heaved a great sigh when he sat himself between Mona and Novi.

"Of course not, Gryffindor has the best team in the whole school! We've got this, Novi. You just watch," Oliver defended hastily. However when all of his friends raised an eyebrow and looked at him, he let out a contradictory sigh.

"Don't worry Ollie. You and your team 'got this', as you so put," Mona said, thumping the boy on his back. "Anyway, eat something. Don't want you fainting in the pitch from starvation if the game goes on for long."

"I'm too _nervous_ to eat," Oliver admitted with tight lips as he eyed his young Seeker.

The four friends looked towards where Harry Potter sat. The news that Harry had made the Gryffindor Quidditch team had leaked sometime between the day that McGonagall had introduced him to Oliver and exactly two weeks from the said day.

The poor boy looked even more nervous than Oliver, if that was actually possible. His friends around him tried to feed him bits of bacon and toast as he rejected the offers, looking as if he was going to throw up from the nerves.

"Oliver," Novi called softly, touching his elbow when he let out another shaky sigh. "I have complete faith that you'll destroy the Slytherins out there today. Don't worry."

Oliver smiled. He wasn't sure if he was going to _destroy_ the Slytherins as Novi put. However, knowing that she believed in him and his skills offered him comfort and he felt some happiness bubble from inside his stomach as he looked towards the piercing grey eyes of the beautiful girl in front of him.

"Thanks, ducky. You always seem to know what to say," he said, pulling an arm over her in a side hug. "And when our team does win the game today, will you be waiting to kiss me congratulations?"

"Well, Mister Wood, that remains to be seen."

* * *

(A/N) Hey, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, although it was short. I'm sorry if you're disappointed that I didn't put any details on how Novi or Oliver was feeling while they were over the Black Lake but I thought I could add that on later during one of their flashbacks or whatever.

Anyway, if you love this story and want me to update more often, please Review, Favorite, and Follow this story! And if you have any questions that you think I may be able to answer about where this story is about to go, send me a message and I might just answer them next time I'm uploading another chapter.

Cheers,

xxBingum


	10. Chapter 10: Their Holidays

Chapter 10: Their Holidays

* * *

Sooner than comprehension allowed, the holidays rolled around to Christmas Eve. And the three friends, bar Percy, who was staying in the Castle this winter holidays, were now in their respective homes, spending a rather quiet night before the Christmas morning tomorrow.

Novi was currently sitting in her favorite stuffed sofa by the roaring fireplace in 'the remote house over the hills'. She had been spending a rather quiet holidays with her guardian, Remus, getting ahead in her studies, and reading whenever possible. Even now, she was reading a rather thick French book she had received quite some time ago, _Notre-Dame de Paris_.

If one were to peek inside their house (though no one would dare to spy on the strange house that held two strange people), one could see that even the 'remote house over the hills' looked festive this time of the year around. Novi never liked to spend her family money, but Christmas was one of the times she made 'exceptions', and she always gave full efforts, even if it were just the two of them, to make the place look spirited.

Currently, the smell of gingerbread cookies and eggnogs wafted the house. The small Christmas tree they had gotten was decorated in Gryffindor red and gold orbs with sparkling lights, and underneath it, the many presents were just waiting to be opened. On the fireplace, hung the stockings that the two of them had made together back in 1981, filled to the brim with various candies. Even on the WWN, the Weird Sisters playing the 'Merlin Bless Ye, Merry Hippogriff' could be heard faintly.

"Novi, if you don't go to bed soon, Father Christmas won't visit you, you know," Remus joked as he strode into the room, one of his hands holding a mug of eggnog, which Novi suspected was spiked with firewhiskey.

"Well if Father Christmas knew me well, he'd know that I've been an absolute angel as of late," Novi grinned, but marked her page on the book and got up to stretch. "In any case, I'll be going to bed, so I can wake you up extra early tomorrow."

"How considerate of you," Remus said, his words dripping with sarcasm, but smiled as he watched the figure of the girl retreating to the bathroom.

Watching Novela Mary Black's antics during the holidays brought all of the good and painful memories of his friends. The Marauders were always at the Potter's during the winter holidays back in his youth, and Novi's overexcitement of the day was similar to that of Sirius'. He remembered his friend always decorating the large tree with gold and red, similar to that of the tree inside the house now, and he'd always go overboard with all of the presents. The decoration inside the 'remote house over the hills' was quite modest compared to those days, but it brought very familiar feelings.

'Maybe, just maybe, when Novi is of age, I'll ask her if she'd like to go visit Sirius,' Remus thought to himself before he himself retreated to his room for the night.

The next morning, true to her words, Novi woke up extra early. She quickly put on her fluffy white robe and ran towards Remus's room and opened it, not bothering to knock. When Remus heard the door open with a loud smack, he sat up, startled, but relaxed as he saw Novi, standing there with a huge grin across her face in a childlike glee.

She jumped onto the bed, and pulled him into a rather unwilling hug. "Happy Christmas, Rem," she said with a grin. "Come on. We've got presents to open!" She squealed as she ran out of the room.

Remus sighed and followed, tying his plaid robes. His hair askew, he joined Novi at the fireplace, where she had a fire going already, and accepted the strong cup of tea she had stirred up. He was grumbling but couldn't hide his smile as she sat down onto the carpeted floor, shoving his presents by his feet and began to open hers.

Remus' pile of presents was quite modest. He had received a rather sturdy dark grey cloak from Novi, a book called, _The Greatest Wizard Pranks of All Time_, from 'Father Christmas', quite abundance of sweets from various fellow ex-employees and acquaintances, and even a bottle of fine red wine from a Muggle woman from his current job.

Novi, however, seemed to be on a field day, opening her presents. She ripped opened the present from Remus first, as tradition goes. He had gotten her the book _Les Fourmis_, in the original French text. 'Father Christmas' also got her a fancy albino peacock feather quill, wishing her a good luck on her OWLs. From Mona, she had gotten a black and midnight blue coloured empire dress that she insisted Novi wore to the Farley Mansion on New Year's Eve. Percy had gotten her a book called, _Wandlore in Eastern Asia_ which actually looked like a good read. She also got couple bags of Dungbombs from the Weasley Twins, and even some sweets from Ron, and Harry.

She then proceeded to open the present from Oliver. He had promised her that she'd love the present, and was overly excited. Just then, in a box, a single ticket fell out. Novi picked it up unsurely, looking at it. It was a ticket to go see the Weird Sisters! Oliver explained in a letter that he had gotten everyone a ticket to go see them. The date was during the Easter holidays, and Novi couldn't stop from squealing. She was going to go see the Weird Sisters with her best friends. Christmas was the bestest.

* * *

At the Farley Mansion, in Mona's room, the familiar roaring emerald green flames shot up, scaring the occupant inside it. Mona dropped her wet towel, and turning around, gave a sigh and an eye-roll. From the fireplace, a familiar face of Novi gave her a lopsided, mischievous grin as she stepped out.

"Mona, I take it that your Christmas was fantastic?" Novi said as she dusted herself and made herself at home in her friend's room, throwing her small trunk onto the floor.

"Yeah, girlie. Thank you for the new camera case and the butterfly knives, I haven't been able to stop playing with it," Mona said enthusiastically. "And can you believe Oliver's got us all tickets to go see the Weird Sisters? It's wicked!"

"I know, I didn't even think he liked them that much," Novi said as she took her robe and made for the bathroom. "I'll be out in a second."

Mona watched as her friend disappeared into her bathroom, and as the lock clicked shut, she gave an eye-roll and a shake of the head.

Matter of fact, Oliver wasn't that big of a fan of the Weird Sisters. Heck, Oliver wasn't big fan of anything besides Quidditch, and the Puddlemere United – his Quidditch Team. The only reason he had gotten those tickets was because he knew that Novi would love it. Mona couldn't possibly imagine why that thought wouldn't cross her friend's mind. And grumbling, she was reminded of the week before the holidays.

* * *

_Week before the Winter Holidays, 1991_

Much to Mona's dismay, even after all of the flirtatious aura between the two, Oliver and Novi did _not_ end up kissing after the Gryffindor's victory over the Slytherin in the Quidditch match. In truth, they acted as if their dallying before the match didn't even occur, and went on about their lives.

She had been so excited, too. A part of her teenage mind had wanted the whole wazoo. Gryffindor would win the match, Oliver would whoop gleefully, and as his eyes locked with Novi's in the stands, he would swoop down, and they would passionately kiss. Call her a hopeless romantic, but she had honestly thought that'd happen.

"You alright, Mona?" came the voice of the culprit of Mona's woe, Novi. Mona looked up, just noticing that they had been in the dungeons the whole time, reviewing the Girding Potion and how to make them. "That's the sixth time you sighed your lungs out in the past ten minutes, what's with you?"

Mona shrugged. "Bored, I guess," she lied, not wanting to pester Novi about Oliver today.

"Well, today is your lucky day," Novi gave a wicked smile, and then she whipped out a small pouch from her pocket and held it out to her friend. "Please, do smell this."

Mona narrowed her eyes, but complied, when she was pleasantly surprised. "Coffee?"

"Ah, don't let it fool you, my dearest friend. This is laced with Viagra, crushed pufferfish eyes, and distilled doxy venom," she said with an ever-present grin.

"I'm not following," Mona said.

"Watch and observe," Novi said with a grin. Then, with a perfectly calm face, she got up from her seat with a phial full of perfectly made Girding Potion. But as she passed by Cygnus Goyle's cauldron, she threw the pouch of the poisoned coffee into it discretely. Mona was surprised to see that the pouch dissolved immediately, and the cauldron flashed brown before it settled to the golden colour again.

When Novi came back after dropping off her Potion on Snape's desk, nothing had happened to Goyle's cauldron thus far. Mona gave her a look with raised eyebrow, unimpressed.

"Now, what exactly is supposed to happen?" she bit sarcastically.

"Give it a minute," Novi answered. "Ah, just as I thought."

Mona's face whipped toward Goyle's cauldron expectantly. What she did not expect was that dunce to actually scoop a bit of the potion with a spoon he had conjured from nowhere, and drank a spoonful of the concoction. Mona could literally feel her mouth drop.

"Now, enjoy Goyle's anguish as he suffers from a raging woody for two weeks," Novi smirked.

"But, how?"

"Pufferfish eyes are an ingredient to make a swelling potion, just the right amount mixed with Viagra will certainly make the effect of the said pharmaceutical drug to be enhanced in a way. The distilled doxy venom was to create a bond between the original Girding Potion and the mixed coffee. The venom will also make the coffee smell to be virtually undetectable," Novi shrugged.

Just then, Novi and Mona heard as a very _disturbed_ sound of Goyle's moan. The class stopped and looked at the boy, confused, as did Snape.

"Is something wrong, Mister Goyle?" Snape drawled in an annoyed manner.

"Er… no," Goyle kept it short, squirming in his seat with a very confused look across his Troll-like face.

"Then, I would very appreciate if you didn't _moan_ in my class," Snape shot.

Novi had a giant grin across her face and Mona was doubling over, holding her stomach by the time the two left the dungeons. They had taken their time, picking up their books to observe as Goyle tried hurriedly to get out of the class, awkwardly running and panting.

"What did you do, Novela?" Percy asked when the two girls finally made an appearance. Oliver and Percy sat a couple seats away from the two girls and had not been there to witness her actions, but did see as Goyle made a fool of himself and fled from the Potions Class toward the direction of the Slytherin Common-room.

"Just enjoying myself before we leave for Christmas next week," Novi smiled. "You think Goyle's parents will mind that their son is in a constant state of sexual frustration over Christmas holidays?"

The four of them laughed, finding Goyle's predicament hilarious. "Well, I must say, though I feel a little sorry for him, it was a brilliant scheme," Oliver laughed.

"So any plans for the holidays?" Percy asked when they have settled down. "I'm staying at the Castle, Mum and Dad's going to Romania to see Charlie. I reckon I can use that time to study for my OWLs"

"How is he? Enjoying the Dragon Reserve there?" Oliver asked, curious about his old Quidditch captain.

"Fine, I bet. So what you doing over the holidays?" Percy asked again.

"Just the usual Wood family get together before going to Mona's for the New Year's Eve, then we'll stay there until we come back," Oliver shrugged.

"Yeah same," Novi and Mona shrugged. "We'll miss you at the Farley Mansion," Mona added.

"Yeah, you will," Percy joked with a wink.

"You all wait until you see my Christmas gift to you," Oliver said with a mischievous smile. "You're especially going to love it, I know so," he said to Novi, putting his arm around her shoulders and grinning down at her.

Novi's heart sped up a little. She was very aware of the placement of Oliver's hand on her shoulders. He smelled like the grass after a rain, with a slight musky, pine scent from his shower gel. His mischievous smile, crooked a little, was so adorable. Novi's face was instantly very pink, but she gave her own smile. "Well, you certainly know how to make a girl very curious, Mister Oliver Wood."

* * *

Mona gave a sigh of surrender at the whole situation. It was this pattern, all the time, with the two of them. They'd flirt, and act like nothing happened, and repeat. She didn't know why they wouldn't just admit to their feelings and just make the whole situation 'official'.

Just then, Novi, now very fresh and showered, came out of the bathroom, adorning her fluffy white robes. Mona gave her friend a lopsided grin.

"So you ready to look incredibly hot tonight?"

Oliver was once again, standing at the bottom of the staircase, uncomfortable in his dress robe, waiting for his two female friends to join him. At least last year, there had been Percy with him, but now he was all alone, standing in the midst of the Slytherins, and their pureblooded families. He fidgeted with his cufflinks, cursing Mona, whom he knew was the culprit of their tardiness.

"Oliver," he then heard from the top of the flight of stairs. He looked up to see Mona, and Novi, and he wasn't disappointed by the results.

Mona had her blonde hair in waves and down, framing her slim face with smoky eyes in a gorgeous way. Her willowy body was adorned in a long pale pink dress that sashayed around her legs. She seemed to capture a lot of attention from her guests, who all, but a few, insisted on wearing a darker coloured dress robes.

Novi, though, almost made everyone stop. Her hair, for tonight's occasion had been coloured black, and results were incredible. She looked like an aristocrat, and looked true to her family name sake. With all of her hair pulled back into an elegant bun, her aristocratic cheek bones were prominent, and her grey eyes dark with dark shadow. The black and midnight blue empire dress made her long bare neck stand out. To add, she was wearing the red lipstick, demanding the eyes of every male species.

"Hey Oliver, you look nice," Novi said as she gave him a smile.

Oliver was wearing a dark blue double breasted military jacket style suit, finished with fur-lined manteaux that Mona had gotten him. "I guess we can both thank Mona for this," he said with a grin. "You look beautiful, tonight."

"Gag me," Mona joked, pretending to choke at the display of her two friends. "Well I don't know about you guys but I'm heading right for the food."

"That sounds very agreeable right now," Novi nodded.

The three of them made to the giant row of over hundreds of different finger foods. As they ate, they talked about their Christmas with their families. They also talked about the upcoming OWLs, and which courses they'd actually need to pass to go into their respective fields. It was well into the afternoon when the ball started up with the music of the string quartet.

"Excuse me," we heard a voice with an accent from behind us. "May I haff your hand in this dance?" he asked, offering a hand to Mona.

Mona giggled a little uncharacteristically, her face going slightly pink. "Well, yes, of course," she said as she got up. And shooting a wink behind her, Mona was gone with the mysterious boy with the accent into the midst of other dancers.

"Well, looks like Mona will be occupied for the rest of the night," Novi grinned to Oliver with a knowing grin. "Anyway, can you believe that 1991 is almost over? I feel like it was one of the fastest to go by, yet."

"Yeah, I get ya," Oliver agreed. "We'll soon be NEWTs level student. That's kind of like a big step in our academic career, you know?"

"Yeah, I totally know what you're talking about. I feel like every year, the faster the school year ends. The Weasley twins and I'm planning so many parties this year to make it memorable," Novi said enthusiastically. "The next Quidditch victory party, the twin's April Fools party, all the Sweet Sixteens."

"Sweet Sixteen? What's that?"

"It's a Muggle girl thing, apparently. They have this giant party on their Sixteenth birthday, completed with extravagant gifts, dress robes, alcohol and sometimes drugs, crazy amount of food and cake, boys, and flowers. Just, everything, BIG, you know?" Novi shrugged. "I know Mona's waiting for us to throw her a huge party. I don't know what the big deal is, but if it's important to her, I'll make it happen."

"And what about you, do you want to have an excessively extravagant sweet sixteen of your own," Oliver asked slyly.

Novi shrugged. "I don't know. I think I'd like a small party with just some people I love. I guess it'd be nice to be treated like a princess for the night, too."

'I'd treat you like a princess every night and day if you were mine,' Oliver stopped himself from saying. 'God I sound so cheesy, what happened to me?' he reprimanded. Then, he turned to her and gave a smile. "Fancy a dance?"

Novi smiled back. "Sure, we can burn off all the food we just inhaled," she said.

After several dances, and several knowing smirk from Mona to both of them, Mona's father, Mister Farley demanded the attention of his guests, calling, "A minute until the new year!" He ushered his guests out to the back balcony of the mansion, facing the empty field which would light up in fireworks as the midnight struck.

"10 … 9 … 8 …"

Mona was now giving Novi a look. When the latter gave a confused frown, Mona discretely pointed at her lips and then nodded toward the direction of Oliver.

"7 … 6 … 5"

Novi shook her head, giving her friend a glare, which Mona reciprocated.

"… 4 … 3"

Novi grinned a little as the boy Mona disappeared with wrapped his arm around her, closing her in.

"… 2 … 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" the crowd screamed as the sky lit up with thousands of glittering lights with a loud bang. Then, the fireworks rearranged itself as a giant monkey which came very close to the ground until another round of fireworks shot out.

"Happy New Year, Novi," Oliver whispered, catching the attention of Novi who had been gleefully watching the fireworks.

"Happy New Year, Oliver," she said back to him with a shy smile. They were so close right now.

"Do you mind if I have that victory kiss from the Quidditch game now?" he asked, his face blushing a little as he asked.

Novi could feel her face heat up into a shade of crimson. "Yes," she managed to whisper with the big lump in her throat.

Cupping her face gently, Oliver looked into her eyes. Her usual grey eyes were twinkling in an almost silver colour with uncertainty and anticipation swimming in them. His eyes flashed down to her lips which was still coloured blood red against her fair skin and dark hair. Then, without further ado, his lips met hers.

* * *

(A/N) Yay, so they finally kiss again. Sorry this took so long but I had a bit of a writer's block. Well, anyway, what do you think? Are they an official couple now? Well, I don't really know either so leave your comments in the** Review **and if you love my story, lemme know with your support by clicking **Favorite** and **Follow**

xxBingum


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